


Time Warp

by Katiemonz



Series: Time Warp [1]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comic), Sonic the Hedgehog (Video Games)
Genre: Adventure, End of the World, Family Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Sonic Generations, Time Travel, kind of, lots of friendship - Freeform, redemption arc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-03
Updated: 2017-06-06
Packaged: 2018-07-11 23:25:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 31
Words: 223,680
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7075054
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiemonz/pseuds/Katiemonz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sonic and his past-self may have put a stop to Eggman's plans for the Time Eater, but that only made the thing mad. Now the younger Sonic and Tails are trapped in the present, the time stream is falling apart, and this time, two hedgehogs might not be enough to save the day. Only by finding a way to cooperate with Sonics from alternate dimensions can our heroes save the multiverse. (originally only on FFN, now being brought to AO3!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Happy Birthday to Me

**Author's Note:**

> So I've been posting Time Warp on FFN for three, almost four years now, and it's about to come to a close. I thought it couldn't hurt to bring it to AO3, so here we are! The update schedule will likely be very regular, because... well, nearly the whole story is written and available already. So if you start reading this and find you really enjoy it and want more ASAP, [click right here to visit this story on FFN!](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9671685/1/Time-Warp) Thanks in advance for reading :)
> 
> Disclaimer: All characters belong to SEGA and Archie Comics. Or Penders. Who owns Scourge and Zonic nowadays, anyway? All writing belongs to me.
> 
> Takes place directly after the final battle of Sonic Generations.

"Sonic... Did we win?" The twenty-year-old hedgehog huffed in exhaustion. He turned towards his little brother. The fox was staring at the spot where the mysterious monster known as the Time-Eater disappeared. Sonic smiled.

"Yeah, Tails. We won." Another one of Eggman's plots foiled, and the universe was saved. When the strange monster suddenly appeared at his birthday party and abducted all his friends, Sonic wasn't sure what to think. But it had been a pretty fun adventure, running through places he had already been, and hanging out with a past version of himself. Actually, it had been _load_ s of fun! Thrashing the corrupt water god, Chaos, without having to go Super Sonic; snowboarding through the city streets and getting chased by a massive truck; blowing up the Chemical Plant and practically riding on the explosion to grab one of the legendary Chaos Emeralds. Of course, there was that one flaming city that he only had a vague memory of, and that no one else seemed to remember at all, but it didn't bother him much. All that mattered to him was that he saved the day and he had fun doing it.

His younger self and the younger Tails approached them with tired grins on their faces. "You did good out there, lil' me," the elder hedgehog said. He extended his fist, which his double happily fist-bumped.

"Thanks. You weren't too shabby yourself, gramps," the twelve-year-old smirked.

"H-hey! I'm only twenty! Twenty is NOT old!" the taller one protested. His younger incarnation and he two Tailses laughed. Sonic rolled his eyes. "Either way, the Time Eater is gone, the time-space continuum is back to normal, and everyone is safe and sound," he said.

A portal suddenly opened up in front of the group, grabbing everyone's attention. From where they were standing, they could see through to the other side of the trans-dimensional passageway. It seemed to lead to a grassy field with a large tree and a picnic table; the whole area was filled with balloons, streamers, and a banner that read 'Happy Birthday Sonic.'

"That looks like our ride home," the older Tails said. "Just the way we left it."

"Can we go with you, older me?" the smaller fox pleaded. "Pleeeaaassee? Just for a little bit! I love birthday parties!" The older Tails looked to the dark blue hedgehog standing next to him for his opinion. Of course, Sonic gave an enthusiastic nod.

"No prob! _You know what they say- the more the merrier!"_ he said in his best impression of Doctor Eggman. The younger Sonic burst out laughing.

"Okay, that was actually pretty good," he said, wiping a tear from his eye. He took a few breaths to regain his composure. "I guess we can stick around for cake. Shouldn't take too long, and besides, the portal to get back to our time hasn't popped up yet."

"Yes, there's that. And..." the green-eyed hedgehog said, leaning down next to his double and putting his arm around the kid's shoulders, "... cake is DELICIOUS," he whispered dramatically. He leapt back to his feet with a huge, goofy grin on his face. "And besides, we just saved all of time and space! We deserve to celebrate!" Tiny Tails grabbed the twenty-year-old's gloved hand and started flying towards the portal.

"What are we waiting for, then! Let's hurry before this thing closes!" he cheered with excitement. The other three quickly followed his lead, and they all jumped through the portal, leaving the empty white limbo behind.

The portal closed up behind them as the four landed on the soft grass. The sun was shining from up above, warming the air and making it feel truly like late June. There was a gentle breeze that blew through the grass, creating ripples in the surrounding hills. It was so different, being back in the real world after being trapped in that bizarre, timeless white expanse. It even smelled different. The air here was rich with the scent of flowers, birthday cake, and…

"My chili dog!" the eldest hedgehog said, noticing the delicious foodstuff falling through the air in front of him. He dove for it, belly-sliding on the grass with his arms stretched out in front of him. As if it were a miracle, the chili dog fell right into his open hands. Sonic sighed with relief and sat back up. He bit off half the dog in one bite, savoring the flavor explosion that hit his taste buds. "Still warm!" he said, mouth still full of chili. He swallowed. "Heh heh! Gotta love time travel." He took another bite out of his favorite food. He stood, facing himself and the Tailses, who were approaching the picnic table. The speedster smiled at what he saw. All of his friends who had been sucked through the Time Eater's portals- Knuckles, Amy, Cream and Cheese, Shadow, and Rouge, to name a few- were popping back into existence in bright flashes of purple light.

Sonic sauntered over to the others, tossing the rest of the chili dog in his mouth. The culinary confection no sooner hit his tongue then a flash of pink suddenly appeared in his peripheral vision. Before he knew what was happening, he was stumbling to the side, with Amy Rose clenching her arms around his chest.

"Ohmigosh, Sonic, you were so great! You totally saved the day!" she cheered. "My hero..." she snuggled her head underneath Sonic's chin as he desperately tried to pull away.

"Yeah, sure, no problem, Amy," he said, choking out the words. "Now, if you could just stop breaking my spine for a minute, that would be phenomenal!" He managed to wedge his arm in between her face and his and pushed her away as she tried to move in for a kiss. He squirmed as he tried to break free from her iron grip. "Yo, Tails! Would you mind?" he shouted, trying to get his little brother to help him out.

"No, it's okay, I don't mind! You two keep having fun!" Tails called back, waving with a sly grin.

"OH, YOU LITTLE- That's it, you are going straight to bed when we get home, mister!" Sonic cried, still struggling to escape from Amy's love-onslaught. This only made Tails laugh.

"Please," he began explaining to his six-year-old self, "he never actually follows through on that threat. He's too nice when it comes to that kind of stuff." The child was watching the scene unfold while trying not to laugh and choke on his cake. He had never expected his older big brother to be frightened by a girl, especially when he had been saving the world for years.

Next to him, Lil' Sonic grimaced. "Man, Amy's still gonna be obsessed with me in eight years? Girl needs a hobby," he shuddered. He watched as his future self finally managed to get the pink hedgehog off of him. The dark blue Mobian then raced up the tree that was next to the picnic table, poking his head out between the leaves.

"C'mon, Amy, it's my birthday! I just wanna relax! Do we really have to go through this?" he pleaded. Amy walked over to the base of the tree, hands on her hips. She pouted angrily up at him before sighing. "Fine, I'll leave you alone. But ONLY because it's your birthday, Sonic!" she said, winking up at him. His muscles relaxed. He was finally safe. He dropped down from the tree and landed next to a certain chuckling red echidna. He punched Knuckles in the arm.

"Oh, shut up, Knucklehead."

"Can't help it. It doesn't get old," Knuckles shrugged. "Now, birthday boy, you going to eat your cake? Because I will gladly take it from you."

"How you gonna take cake away from someone you can't catch?" Sonic smirked.

"Is that a challenge?"

"You could say that. Another time, though. I mean, it's not very often that you get to spend time with a younger version of yourself, am I right?" the hedgehog grinned, elbowing his rival jokingly.

"Alright, another time. I'm holding you to that, alright?"

"You've got yourself a deal, pal." Sonic slapped Knuckles on the back before snatching up a slice of cake for himself. Chocolate. The hedgehog's favorite kind. He happily dug into the dessert; he didn't realize how hungry he had been until he returned to the 'real world.' Maybe it had something to do with time not progressing normally in the strange white dimension, but even with all the crazy places that he and his younger self had ran through, they had noticed that neither of them were getting the least bit hungry or tired. Although Sonic had simply ignored this strangeness before, he was starting to feel the effects wear off. His hunger had come back with a vengeance, meaning the quickster would probably eat any food put in front of him.

He took a seat on one of the benches back at the picnic table, next to his younger self. He crossed his legs and leaned backward, relaxing. "Been one heck of a day, huh?"

"That sounds like the understatement of the century," the younger Sonic remarked, raising an eyeridge. "I mean, I'm eight years in the future right now, hanging out at my twentieth birthday party. With my twenty-year-old self. I still can't get over that. It's so... weird." The older hedgehog chuckled.

"Man, I've seen so many weird things over the years, stuff like this doesn't particularly phase me anymore," he smiled. The younger Sonic simply shook his head.

"What the heck was so weird that _this_ seems normal to you? Actually- you know what, I don't even want to know."

"Good, because I wasn't gonna tell you. You're going to have to find that out on your own, kid."

"What is this, I can't tell you, or else I'll have to kill you? Afraid of causing a time paradox or something?"

"Nah. You just need to have some surprises in life, after all!" He patted the smaller hedgehog on the head.

"I'm getting a pat on the head. From myself. There is something inherently wrong with this picture," was the small hedgehog's only response.

"Yeah, well, you're going home soon, anyway, so why not just chill out? We've time traveled before, this shouldn't be COMPLETELY new to you. Remember Little Planet? That's happened to you by now, right?"

"Well, YEAH, but- but that didn't involve more than one Sonic at any given time!"

"What about Metal?"

"He's a robot, he doesn't count," the child pouted. He paused for a moment. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" the twenty-year-old said, his mouth full of cake. "Yeah, shoot," he mumbled. He licked the icing off his lips.

"Well... Do you think Robotnik is ever going to give up? Or will we just... put him out of commission one of these days? I mean, whenever he's defeated, I always feel like that's the end of that. He couldn't possibly consider trying something again, especially when sometimes it seems like he's gone for good. I'm going to be fighting Robuttnik for at least eight more years, for Pete's sake. I know you said we win every time, but will we ever... win?"

The older hedgehog stopped shoveling cake into his mouth and rested his plate on his knees. He stared off into the distance, thinking. He supposed he had never thought of the war being over. It was always just find Eggman, get the Chaos Emeralds, foil whatever evil scheme he's come up with, rinse, repeat. He'd been doing it for so long, it had become some sort of routine for the speedster. To be honest, the thought of not having anyone to save the planet from anymore troubled Sonic a little bit. He was all for peace and all, but he wasn't the kind of guy who could just retire from the hero business and settle down. He shuddered slightly. He detested the thought of settling down.

He sighed. "I'm not sure, kiddo. I mean, yeah, it would be great if the world was safe once and for all, but at this point I think it would just be weird NOT having the Doc around to attempt to take over the world every now and then. And, to be perfectly honest, I think that if Eggman ever goes down for good, there'll be someone else to take his place as the resident threat to Mobius."

"So, what, I'm just going to be saving the world for the rest of my life?" the young hedgehog said disappointedly. Sonic placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm not saying that. But trust me, it'll get easier. You'll have help in the future. Eventually, it'll get to the point where you enjoy trashing badniks every once in a while," he said. The dark-eyed one sighed.

"If it were anyone else saying that, I wouldn't believe a word of it." A small smile crept across his face. "In fact, I can barely believe it when YOU say it. And you're ME." His older self laughed at that. All of a sudden, they were both attacked by a small ball of orange-yellow fluff who had dove onto their laps. The older Sonic barely had time to get his cake out of the way of the excited toddler.

"Sonic! There's a PIÑATA! I didn't know there was a piñata here!" Tiny Tails ecstatically informed his big brother. He turned to the green-eyed hedgehog. "Older big bro, did you know there was a piñata here?"

"What? No way! Hey, you wanna take a whack at it? I'll give you the first try," Sonic said, lifting the child up off of his lap and letting Tails sit on his shoulders. He made extra sure that he wouldn't be poking the tyke with his extra sharp quills as Tails bounced up and down excitedly.

"Alright!" the fox kit cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Sonic paraded around the party with the young child sitting atop his shoulders, with the younger of the hedgehogs in tow. He was following along less for the piñata, and more to make sure that Tails didn't fall off of the taller hog's back and hurt himself. Sonic passed by his own fourteen-year-old brother. "Why can't you be this cute anymore?" Sonic asked him.

The older Tails smiled. "Well, for one, I can't exactly fit up on your shoulders anymore. Not without getting myself torn to shreds by your quills, anyway."

"Excuses, excuses!" Sonic said with a laugh. "Well, if you can't be my adorable baby bro, I guess I'll just have to keep this little guy!" he said, reaching behind his head and giving the young kit on his back a tickle. The child squirmed as he laughed, making the younger Sonic nervous.

"Cut it out, or else he'll end up cutting himself on those razor blades on your back," he said, in a tone that was both serious and joking at the same time.

Suddenly, he heard a loud WHOOSHing sound come from behind them. The smaller hedgehog instinctively whipped his head around to see what was happening.

A portal had opened up about 100 yards away. Through its deep purple haze, the hedgehog was able to make out the landscape of Green Hill Zone. Home.

The twenty-year-old hedgehog gently lifted Tiny Tails off of his shoulders and placed him down on the ground. "Well, looks like I won't get to keep you after all. Bummer," he said.

"It's okay, you'll still have older-me to play with!" the small fox kit said, wrapping his arms around the green-eyed hedgehog's legs. "Right, older-me?" he said, looking up at his future-self.

The older fox nodded. "You bet," he said, giving his other self a high-five. Sonic- both of them- smiled at their little brothers.

"Still, it's been cool hanging out with you two. We'll have to do it again sometime," said the older hedgehog with a smile and a thumbs up.

"Yeah, if time and space starts to get ripped apart again, I'll be sure to give you a call," his younger incarnation said.

"Promise?" the elder Sonic said in an attempt to be purposely annoying. The younger rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, sure, promise," he said with a laugh. He received a friendly noogie from his double, as well as a fistbump from the older Tails.

Given that the Sonics and the Tailses were just different versions of one another, their goodbyes didn't take long. It was the goodbyes of everyone ELSE at the party which took a while. It was like they were never going to see Sonic or Tails again. After the two time-travelers had said goodbye to everyone, the preteen gathered his little brother up and the two prepared to go through the portal. Speaking of which, did the portal seem... smaller?

"Wha-? It's closing! Go, go!" the light blue hedgehog said, running towards the rapidly closing portal with Tails close behind. They had wasted too much time on goodbyes. The gateway was getting smaller and smaller, shrinking exponentially with every step Sonic took towards it. It nearly felt as if he were running in slow motion, the portal closing faster and faster. _'C'mon, go go go!'_ the young hedgehog thought. _'We've got to get through!'_

By the time he had reached it, the portal was barely big enough for him to stick his head through. Not willing to risk his head getting stuck, he shoved his arm through the portal instead, hoping to somehow pull himself through.

The portal closed up around his wrist, and surely would have sliced his hand clean off if his older self hadn't run over to pull him out in time. The two hedgehogs fell backwards, the younger landing on top of the older. Mini-Tails stared at the place where the portal once was.

"Sonic... It's gone," he said, his voice barely louder than a whimper. The small speedster scrambled to his feet and frantically inspected the empty air in front of him.

"It can't be gone! That portal was our only way back home! It can't just be GONE!" he shouted, feeling around for any trace of the dimensional gateway, as if it had simply turned invisible. He fumbled about in the empty air, finding nothing. He quickly lost hope after only thirty seconds. His arms fell to his sides, shoulders slumped. "It's gone," he admitted after what had felt like an eternity.

He felt a firm grip on his shoulder. He looked up to see his older self looking down at him, with a concerned and serious look on his face. The fact that the older hedgehog had done nothing but smile since they met only made this change in attitude more worrisome.

"It'll be alright," Macro-Sonic said calmly. "You guys can stay with me and Tails until we find a way to get you back home again. Okay?"

"It's not like we have much of a choice at this point," the newly stranded hedgehog said quietly, looking down at his shoes. Tiny Tails wormed himself into his big brother's arms, scared now that they suddenly had no way of returning home. The younger Sonic held his best friend tight in his arms, looking back up at his future-self again.

"Thanks, Sonic," he said. The older hedgehog smiled.

"Don't mention it, Sonic," he replied.


	2. Alien Hunting

The party ended soon after, and everyone wished the younger Sonic and Tails luck and headed off in their own separate directions. It was going to be getting dark soon, so it was time for the four heroes to get going anyway. The workshop where Sonic and Tails lived wasn't far from where they decided to have Sonic's birthday party- just on the other side of the Mystic Ruins. It wasn't a very long walk, or a chatty one at that. The "classic" versions of Mobius' dynamic duo were busy individually contemplating their fates; wondering how they would get back home, and picturing where their future selves would live. Meanwhile, the older fox and hedgehog were trying to communicate using nothing but facial expressions, discussing what they were going to do with the two kids they were suddenly left with. Their conversation didn't make much headway, which tends to be what happens with silent conversations.

Soon, the Mystic Ruins train station terminal, a wooden building several stories high, was in view. "We're almost there," the older of the two Sonics said, breaking the silence. His younger self merely nodded in response, not saying a word. The green-eyed hedgehog pouted. He hated to see a friend upset, especially when that friend was himself.

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his head. "Yo, little me, wanna race to the workshop?" he said, bouncing on his feet with excitement as he walked. He barely gave the twelve-year-old any time to respond before he shouted, "Great! Ready, set, GO!" He took off in the direction of the train station, leaving a cloud of dirt and dust in his wake. His younger self hesitated for a split second, his brain processing what was going on. That didn't take long, however, and he was soon running after the older hedgehog with only a vague idea of where the finish line was.

His feet pounded against the ground of the somehow familiar Mystic Ruins. Jumping high over rocks and swerving hard around trees, it only took him a few seconds before he was closing in on his future self. The other hedgehog noticed that he was quickly losing his head-start advantage, and he picked up the pace. He didn't go full speed- just fast enough to challenge his younger self.

_ 'No way I'm going to lose to myself,' _ the preteen thought, his competitiveness starting to show. He slowed down for a half a second and revved himself up into a spin dash, hurdling ahead. He jumped out of his spin and continued running once he began to slow. He glanced left and right and noticed that the older hedgehog was actually behind him. He grinned.  _ 'What now, Mr. Fastest Thing Alive?' _ he thought.

The next thing he knew, something whooshed past him at incredible speeds. The air displacement caused by the sudden passing was nearly enough to knock the young hedgehog sideways into the dirt. "Was that...!" He looked behind him. His older self was no longer there. Instead, he was far ahead of the youngster, running backwards with his tongue out. Mini-Sonic scowled. "SHOWOFF!" he shouted, although he doubted that his older self would be able to hear him. To his surprise, the other hedgehog winked in response before turning himself around again so that he was running forward. Determined not to throw in the towel, the younger pulled himself into a Super Peelout- his feet looked like nothing more that a blurry, red figure-eight, and he was barely touching the ground. He sped ahead, the maneuver allowing him to catch up with his future self with ease.

"Not too shabby!" the older hedgehog shouted over the wind rushing past them. "I almost forgot about the Super Peelout!"

"Is this all you've got?" the younger yelled back. His other self grinned.

"Not even close, pal!" he said. "What about you? Getting tired?"

"In your dreams! I could do this all day!"

"Well good, because so can I! Now, let's see who can- WHOA WHOA WAIT HOLD ON STOP STOP STOP STOP WE'RE HERE WE'RE HERE WE'RE HERE!" the older hedgehog yelped, screeching to a halt right at the bottom of the stairs that led up to the workshop. Mini-Sonic skidded to a stop about ten feet away. He was panting.

"Jeez, you trying to give me a heart attack or something? Thanks for the heads-up there," he said snarkily.

"Hah, I didn't think we'd get here this quick," the older Sonic said, bouncing on the balls of his feet to help cool down his legs. "Whew! That was fun!"

"Yeah, I guess it was," the twelve-year-old said with a smile.

"Aha! I knew a good run would be all it takes to cheer you up." His older persona gave him a pat on the back before starting up the stairs. "Come on, I might as well show you the outside of the place while we wait for Tails and Tails to catch up." Nodding, Mini-Sonic followed him up the stairs, intrigued.

The young hedgehog had never even considered having a house before. Well, he had thought about it, of course. It just never seemed like something that was within his grasp. Even if he was forced to grow up quickly, having lived on his own for almost his whole life, he never seriously thought about having a permanent place to stay. Once he took in Tails and started to look after him, the idea crossed his mind more and more often. However, due to his lack of funding and his young age, he was never really able to act on the notion. He honestly had no idea what to expect, walking up those stone steps.

They reached the top of the first flight of steps, coming to a plateau. The area was pretty empty, save for fencing around the edge of the cliff and another set of stairs, leading up to the workshop. From here, it was easier to see the house. From his vantage point, the twelve-year-old observed that the building looked small, and from the outside indeed seemed more like a place to work than a place to live. He and his older self ascended the next flight of stairs, approaching the building.

It was about two stories high, and made out of various materials- brick, steel, wood, and cinder blocks, to name a few. There was a small pool of water with a water wheel around the side, and a small tower protruding from the top of the roof. It wasn't a particularly big house, but then again, with only two people living there, it didn't need to be. There was a large stretch of land by the right side of the house that jutted out across the ocean. Palm trees lined this peninsula at even intervals, and there seemed to be a metal rail running down the center of it.

All in all, it was more of a house than Sonic had ever had before in his life.

The older Sonic bent down and picked something up off of the ground. It seemed to be a stone totem, or maybe some sort of key. "Man, I wish kids would just leave this thing where it belonged," he said. "I'll have to bring this back to Windy Valley later, or else that wind tunnel's not going to open." He sat down on the front steps, placing the key on the ground next to him. He flashed a smile at his past self. "Nice place, eh?"

"I've never had an actual place of my own before," the smaller hedgehog said. "My brain is still in a bit of a shock."

"Well, it's not technically MY place. It is Tails' workshop, after all, and he brings in most of the income. But I do live here," the older Sonic said. "Hey, speaking of Tails, here they come!" He stood up and waved to the two approaching foxes. The two of them flew up to the top of the plateau and came in for a landing a few feet away from where the Sonics were standing.

"So, who won?" The older of the two foxes asked while the younger stared up in awe at the workshop.

"I actually think it was a tie," answered Sonic with a grin. He pulled a small house key out of his quills and twirled it around his finger. He inserted the key into the doorknob, turned, and bumped the front door open with his hip. "And now, Mini-Me and Lil' Tails, welcome to our humble abode."

"Humble?" If the smaller Sonic's brain was in shock after seeing the outside of the house, then his mind might have been fried a little once he saw the inside. The workshop seemed way bigger on the inside than it did on the outside. They entered into a comfortable living room, with a patched-up couch placed up against one wall, two armchairs against another, and a flat-screen TV hanging above the fireplace on the other side of the room. The cabinets on either side of the fireplace were stocked with video game consoles and games, DVDs and old videos, CDs, and even some vinyl records. There were speakers attached to the walls of the living room, providing full surround sound. There was a loft, allowing people on the second floor to look down into the living room, and giving the whole area an open feel. From the living room they could see the kitchen, which had a circular table with chairs, plenty of windows, and a fairly generic kitchen setup.

And all that could be seen from only one room of the house. Mini-Sonic had a hard time wrapping his head around the fact that he hadn't even seen the rest of it yet.

"Whoa... this place is insane!"

"Pretty cool, huh?" the green-eyed hedgehog said. "Why don't you and Lil' T go explore, take a look around, make yourselves at home, while Tails and I work on setting up a place for you two to sleep?"

"Lil' T?" the younger Tails asked, turning away from the stereo that he had been fascinated by to face the elder Sonic.

"Well, I've gotta call you something, don't I? I can't just call you Tiny Tails, or the younger Tails, or something equally long the whole time you're here. That would get annoying, don't you think?"

"Haha, yeah," the fox kit giggled.

"Cool! Tails and I will be upstairs if you guys need us," Sonic said, rubbing the child's head and getting his fur all messy.

"Oh, and if you go into the hangar out back or the basement, be careful, okay?" the teenage fox added. "I know you two can handle yourselves, but there's a lot of stuff in there that you shouldn't be touching."

"Got it," Little Sonic said with a thumbs up. Meanwhile, in his head, he was thinking, _ 'There's a HANGAR in this place, too?! This is seeming more and more like a mansion and less than a workshop every minute.' _

"C'mon, Sonic! Let's go check this place out! I wanna 'splore!" the six-year-old said, grabbing his big brother by the hand and dragging him towards the kitchen. The young hedgehog followed without hesitation, eager to see the rest of the workshop. The older incarnations of the two simply smiled at one another and went upstairs to figure out how they were going to provide sleeping arrangements for two more people.

Downstairs in the kitchen, those two people in question were busy scrounging for snacks. Sonic yanked open the fridge door, and after looking around for a moment or two, pulled out a can of Chaos Cola. He shut the door with his foot as he popped the top open. "I can't believe this is going to be our house someday," he said after taking a sip of the soda.

"Yeah! It's so cool!" Tails said, flying around the room. He insisted on looking in every cabinet and drawer, just to see what was inside. "I know we move around a lot and all, but I still think it would be cool to have a place to come back to every once in a while. Just to rest and play and stuff."

"I wouldn't mind that either, pal," Sonic said with a frown. "Unfortunately, I'm still too young; who would sell their house to a twelve-year-old, anyway? Even if I AM a 'national hero' or whatever." He put air-quotes around national hero. He sighed. "Not to mention, I don't have the cash. Getting a good place to live costs a lot of money. When we get home, though, I'll see what we can do. Deal?"

"Deal!" the fox kit cheered. Sonic took another sip of his soda.  _ 'If we get home at all, that is...' _ he thought. He shook his head. No, he shouldn't be thinking that way. He was going to get his little brother home safe and sound, or his name wasn't Sonic the Hedgehog. He drank the rest of his soda in one gulp and set the empty can on the counter.

"Come on kiddo, I know you wanna check out the hangar," he said, motioning for Tails to follow him. The flying fox nodded eagerly and flew ahead of his brother, barreling through the door that led to the hangar.

The hangar wasn't too big, but there was still enough room for several planes- one of which Sonic and Tails easily recognized as their own bi-plane, the Tornado, although it appeared to have had several upgrades and a slightly updated paint job. Also in the hangar was a worktable with tools scattered about, and an area for spare parts to be stored. There were various diagrams plastered across the walls; some were diagrams of different planes and engines, others were maps, others showed cross-sections of cockpits and control panels. Sonic peeked out the window of the garage door to find that it lead out to the peninsula that jut out over the ocean. _ 'That must be some sort of runway, then,' _ he thought.

"Wooooooow!" Tails gasped, racing around the room to get a look at everything. "This place is so cool!"

"Way past," the hedgehog breathed. He walked over to the Tornado and rubbed his gloved hand across its metallic body. "Man, this thing looks like it's still new. Good to know it's been taken care of."

"Sonic! Older-me said not to touch anything!" said Tails, pouting and crossing his arms at his older brother.

"I think he just meant the tools and the controls for the planes and stuff," Sonic explained. "And besides, this plane was technically ours first!" he said with a wink.

"Haha, yeah," Tails agreed. "Why do you think future-us need so many airplanes, anyways?"

"That's a good question, Tails. I don't know." Sonic looked around at all the planes in the hangar. There were three in all, but there was space for a fourth as well. "Maybe they all do different things? Or maybe the future-you has a hobby. We'll have to ask later." He took a step back from the Tornado and grinned. "Hey, what do you say you and me go check out those video games we saw in the living room?"

"Ooohhhhh," the fox said, his face lighting up. "Do you think future-us have Super Mega Blasteroids 9? I love that game!" Sonic shrugged.

"Not sure. I like that game too, but I guess it's technically over eight years older now. Let's go check and see!" The two kids excitedly raced back to the living room and opened up the cabinet next to the fireplace. The shelves were lined with video games, which the two time-travelers gaped at in awe; loads of strange-looking consoles, controllers with tons of buttons, and plenty of sequels to games they had never even heard of before piqued their interests. Sonic looked at the game cases, reading about the games on the back and looking at the pictures.

"Please, this isn't even a picture of actual gameplay. It's just a photo of some dude in the forest with a sword," he said, looking at the back of a game called Skyrim.

"Sonic! I found it! It's here!" Tails cheered. Sonic looked up to find him clutching the cartridge of Super Mega Blasteroids 9 in his hands. The hedgehog's eyes lit up, and he immediately put away the game he was holding.

"Awesome! Now, where's that console..." he said, his eyes quickly scanning the shelves for the correct console. "I just saw it here a minute ago, where is it- aha!" He pulled the old gaming device off of the bottom shelf and blew the dust off of it. It apparently hadn't been moved in a while. He handed it over to Tails, who was better with cords and electronics than he was. He figured out where all the cords plugged into relatively easily. Sonic then blew into the cartridge to get the dust out (force of habit), inserted it into the console, and pressed the power button.

The game came to life on the big screen TV, with its catchy opening title song theme blasting through the speakers. Each of the players picked up a controller and grinned.

"Ready to blast some robots?" Tails asked. Sonic nodded.

"Let's do it to it!" he cheered. The game commenced.

Meanwhile, upstairs in Tails' bedroom, the older versions of Sonic and Tails were busy reconstructing Tails' old bunk bed. Ever since the fox took the storage room on the second floor and converted it into a separate bedroom for Sonic, he had removed the bottom bed, replacing it with a desk that fit snugly under the top bunk. They both figured that their younger incarnations could take the bunk bed in Tails' room, and Tails could take Sonic's bed, seeing as the hedgehog usually ended up sleeping on the roof anyways.

"Sonic, could you hand me that screwdriver?" Tails asked, holding out his hand. Sonic dug through the toolbox lying on the floor next to him, managed to find the screwdriver, and dropped it into his brother's outstretched hand. The hedgehog picked up the instructions for putting the bed together and squinted at them, trying to make sense of the diagrams. He turned it on his side, trying to see if holding it at a 90 degree angle made it make any more sense. It didn't.

"Jeez, how is anyone supposed to figure this stuff out?" he said in frustration. He was now holding the instructions upside down. They still made no sense to him. "It's like its written in gibberish or something!"

"Are you looking at the side that's in French?" Tails asked, without looking up from the bed. Sonic studied the directions further before turning it around to the backside.

"Not anymore," he said with a pout. He crossed his legs and leaned back, his hands on the floor behind him to make sure he didn't fall over. "Sooo. You need me to help with that, or..."

"Actually, I think I'm almost done. Just gotta tighten some stuff up, make sure everything's safe, and we're ready for business," Tails said. Sonic nodded.

"Cool. You got that done pretty quick. Then again, that's not all that surprising, seeing as you're our resident Mr. Geniuspants."

"Please. Nine times out of ten, whenever I have to put a piece of furniture together, I always end up with, like, seventy-thousand extra screws, and it wobbles like you wouldn't believe. I am seriously not kidding, I have had to personally doctor almost all of the furniture in this house so that it's not horribly unsafe," Tails said with a laugh. "This one only went together easy because it's been assembled before."

"Leave it to discount furniture to put a kid like you to shame," Sonic chuckled. "Oh man, I just had the funniest thought. Just picture Eggman, struggling to put together a coffee table or something. That would be hilarious."

Tails snickered. "You're right, that would be pretty funny." He placed his wrench down on the ground next to him and exhaled. "There, that should do it. Do you want to do the honors?"

"Don't have to ask me twice!" Sonic said, standing up. The two of them lifted up the mattress off of the ground and slowly lowered it onto the bed. Tails stepped away from the bed and grinned. "It's all yours," he said, motioning towards the newly completed and (hopefully!) functional bed.

Sonic took a step backward and cracked his neck. He smiled. "Geronimo!" he shouted, taking a running leap towards the bed. He landed belly-first on the mattress, causing him to bounce about a foot in the air and making the bed shake. It did not, however, fall over on top of the hedgehog, which was a definite good sign. He gave Tails a thumbs up. "I'd say this thing checks out."

"Cool," the fox nodded. "Now, since I did most of the actual WORK, you can make the bed. There should be some extra sheets in the closet." Sonic groaned.

"Aaawww, come on! Do I have to?" he protested.

"One," Tails started to count in an almost threatening tone- like a parent when their child disobeys them. Sonic got up off the bed and sighed.

"Not gonna work this time, Tails," he said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Twoooo," the fox said, drawing the word out for emphasis.

"Fine, fine, you win." Sonic raised his hands up in the air, admitting defeat. He slumped out of the bedroom to go get sheets and an extra pillow from the hall closet. "How does that work?" he muttered to himself, digging through the closet's contents. Tails smirked. His older brother could be a huge pushover sometimes.

"I'll be downstairs, checking on the littles," the vulpine said, leaving his bedroom and going downstairs. Sonic grunted in response.

Tails got to the bottom of the stairs and walked into the living room. Their backs to him, the younger versions of himself and Sonic were sitting cross-legged on the floor, pounding away on video game controllers.

"Tails, get that power-up!" Sonic said, holding his controller up sideways near his face. He was mashing on the B button, his on-screen space ship shooting out a constant stream of pixilated laser blasts.

"Got it!" the young fox next to him shouted, swerving his space ship to the left to pick up a weapon upgrade. On-screen, the two ships were destroying aliens and asteroids left and right. It was quite the sight to behold.

"Oh man, is that Super Mega Blasteroids 9? It's been forever since I've played that one," the older Tails said, walking up behind them. He sat down on the couch to watch their game. They were already on Level 8.

"Oh, hey," the lighter-blue hedgehog said, not looking away from the TV. "How go things upstairs?"

"We're all done. We set up the old bunk bed for you two, so you can just crash upstairs until we can get you back to your own time."

"Awesome! Bro, watch out for that asteroid!" Sonic said, helping blast apart a huge space rock. "By the way, I call top bunk."

"Ugh, fine," little Tails pouted. He was too preoccupied with the game to fight. "Ooh! Shield! Get it get it get it!"

They continued playing like this for several more minutes, the two of them shouting over the volume of the game, until they reached the Level 10 Boss fight. It was pretty menacing looking, considering the age of the game and the limitations of the graphics at the time. A giant space monster with three eyes, lots of teeth, and tentacles that tried to whip your ship and do damage. It also shot lasers from its eyes and mouth on occasion. All in all, it was a tough boss.

"Aw man, this guy again!" Sonic cried. He brought his controller close to his chest and glared at the screen, completely focused. "C'mon, Tails, we got him this time. We're going to beat this guy's sorry tentacle butt!" The six-year-old fox nodded, not saying a word. They were both in the zone, and they had a good chance at winning the fight- both had managed to grab some power-ups before the Boss Battle started, and neither started off the fight with low health. Unfortunately, that didn't last long.

"Dude, you've gotta aim for the eyes! Aim for the eyes!"

"I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!"

"Oh man oh man oh man I'm running low on health and I'm starting to run out of repair kits. We aren't doing as well as I'd hoped- YES WE GOT ONE OF HIS EYES, WAY TO GO BRO!"

The older Tails was watching from his seat on the sofa with amusement. He and his Sonic had never been able to get past this particular boss when they were little, which caused them to put down the game until the hedgehog was around fifteen and better understood video game strategy. At that point, the fight was a piece of cake. They had even discovered a glitch in the game which let players damage the monster before the fight began, making the battle even easier. But of course, Tails couldn't just tell this to the two time-travelling kids. That wouldn't be any fun at all. They would just have to find out the trick for themselves.

"Sonic, I'm taking damage!"

"No! We're so close! Go for the eye on the right, it's the weakest! I managed to hit that one a bunch earlier. No, no, nonononnonononono oh no! Tails I died! How could I die, we were so close!"

"Noo! Without the two of us this is going to be impossib- I GOT THE SECOND EYE, YES YES YES!"

"Holy crap, keep going, Tails! You can do it, kiddo! You can do it! You've got this in the bag! Only one eye left to shoot out and he's gone!"

It was all up to Lil' T at that point. He stared intently at the screen, tongue sticking out the side of his mouth. His fingers danced nimbly around the controller, mashing buttons left and right. He narrowly dodged lasers and meteors, all while at dangerously low health.

_ 'They're not going to be able to do it,' _ the older Tails thought. _ 'After all, they're just the past versions of Sonic and I, and we only just beat this level a few years ago.' _

Another massive laser blast shot out of the boss' eye and flew across the screen. This one nailed the fox's ship, hitting it dead-on.

"NOOOOO," Sonic shouted in disdain, curling up into a ball. The older fox exhaled and leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head. He knew it was just too good to be true.

But... something was off. The game-over music wasn't playing yet.

In everyone's astonishment, the spaceship had somehow survived the blast, with only 1 hit point remaining. Everyone cheered in extreme excitement, not able to believe that Lil' T had actually survived. The kid took a moment to realize this, and almost crashed into a stray asteroid because of it. Luckily, he recovered from his initial shock just in time to swerve out of the way. The three people in the room quickly went from loud and rambunctious to dead silent, the only noises coming from the television and Lil' T's mad button-mashing skills. The kid needed to concentrate. He was playing on the defensive now; he had gotten lucky by surviving, and he was determined not to get hit again. He steered clear of any meteors, laser blasts, and tentacle whips that were coming his way, sticking mainly to flying in the bottom-left corner of the screen. He snuck in a shot whenever he could, being careful not to fly directly in front of the boss' eye to avoid more energy blasts.

Everyone was holding their breath. After a barrage of laser-fire, Tails spotted his opening. With one final shot of his laser cannons, the small fox hit the space monster's final eye right in the pupil. It exploded in a burst of red and yellow, causing the boss to roar. Its mouth was wide open. Not wasting his chance, Tails unleashed everything he had into the belly of the beast. After devouring ten or so photon torpedoes, the monster couldn't take any more. It coughed up a large cloud of smoke before exploding. It left a purple gem in its wake, which was automatically collected.

Sonic jumped up into the air and cheered. "Holy sweet mother of Chaos! Tails, that was flipping AWESOME! I can't believe you did it!" He lifted his little brother up in the air and spun him around while laughing. The young fox was smiling so big, it looked like his face was going to break. "Yeah, I did it!" he exclaimed, waving his hands in the air.

On the sidelines, the older Tails clapped in congratulations. However, he had a slightly more pressing, yet related matter on his mind.

_ 'How were they able to beat that boss? They're us. We weren't able to do it until we five years OLDER than they are now. This doesn't make any sense! Our past is their future- our timelines should match up.' _ He sighed and looked back at the two kids. His younger self was taking a flying victory-lap around the room, while Lil' Sonic was doing a touchdown dance and making up his own funky dance beat to go with it. Tails shook his head. _ 'I'm probably over-thinking things. I mean, it's just a level in a video game. It's not that big a deal if they beat it before they're supposed to, right? If anything, I'll talk to Sonic about it later.' _

Speak of the devil, the dark blue hedgehog sauntered down the stairs right at that second. "Hey, what's going on in here?" he asked, taking note of the celebration.

"Dude, you totally missed it! Tails took out the Level 10 boss of Super Mega Blasteroids 9 and it was freakin’ sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!" his younger self shouted with a huge smile on his face. The green-eyed hedgehog laughed.

"No foolin'? Way to go, kiddo!" he said, giving the small flying fox a double high-five. "I didn't even know we still HAD this game. I haven't played it in years!"

"Yeah, well you'll have to wait your turn old man, Tails and I are on a roll!" The smaller Sonic stuck his tongue out and picked up his controller again, getting ready to continue playing. His little brother was quick to join him, and the two quickly resumed destroying the terrors of outer space (after using a cheat code they had memorized to grab some extra lives, of course).

"I told you, I'm not old," Sonic muttered, folding his arms. He plopped himself down on the couch next to Tails, resting his feet on the coffee table. "Man, I'm beat. Whaddaya say we just order take-out tonight?"

"Are you sure? I mean, it's your birthday. I could probably whip something up real quick for dinner," Tails offered, standing up.

"No, no, no, it's fine, man! Sit back down. I already had cake and chili dogs today, that's all the birthday grub I need. Let's order from that new Holoskan place that just opened up in Station Square, sound good?" he said, motioning for Tails to sit back down as he reached for the cordless phone on the end table next to the sofa. "Yo, guys! Holoskan sound good for dinner?"

"Dunno. Never had it," Sonic's younger self replied, refusing to peel his eyes away from the TV screen.

"It's good. You'll like it. Trust me on this," the elder hedgehog said with a wink. "Tails? Lil' T? Thoughts?"

"Sure, why not?" the little fox replied after taking out a wave of alien ships.

His future-self nodded. "I'm up for it," he said.

"Cool. Be right back," the older Sonic said. He got up to go to the kitchen to search for the menu he had picked up from the restaurant a few days before. It took him a few minutes to remember where he put it. It took significantly longer to get down what everyone wanted- mainly because the two kids were still intensely focused on their game. Even placing the order itself took longer than it should have, seeing how Sonic had to convince the restaurant owner to send a guy out to the Mystic Ruins to deliver the food. He almost didn't until he realized it was Sonic the Hedgehog he was talking to. Sonic normally hated using his hero-status to receive special treatment, but he wasn't in the mood to take the train all the way to the city. The events that transpired in the empty white dimension where he had fought the Time Eater were catching up to him, and he suddenly felt as if he hadn't slept in days (which, for all he knew, very well could have been the case).

Because of all of this, the food didn't arrive until around 8 p.m., and all of the inhabitants of the workshop were starving by then. They didn't even bother to move to the kitchen to eat; the four of them were content enough to sit on the floor in the living room around the coffee table, stuffing their faces with take-out while watching a re-run of some old family game show on TV. As the younger incarnation of Sonic looked around at the cozy setting, he couldn't help but grin.  _ 'Maybe being stuck here won't be so bad, after all.' _

 


	3. Space Oddity

Meanwhile, another, different blue hedgehog was looking in on the same exact scene. However, he was not comforted by watching the Sonics and the Tailses eat dinner together. As a matter of fact, he was stressing out.

Zonic the Zone Cop was a resident of the No Zone- an alternate dimension that existed 90 degrees from everywhere else. It was his job to keep a close eye on as many Sonics in as many alternate dimensions as he could to make sure nothing was going majorly wrong in the grand cosmic scheme of things.

And Sonic Prime eating a meal with his past self fell into the 'majorly wrong' category.

Of course, there were thousands upon thousands of other Sonics in the multiverse; heck, Zonic was one of them. There was an inherent difference, though, in meeting yourself from another dimension and meeting yourself from a different point on your timeline. For example, Sonic and Zonic had teamed up a number of times in the past to save various universes from destruction. There was even a whole fiasco around a year ago involving the Sonic from the Anti-Mobius trying to conquer Mobius Prime. Needless to say, the Zone Cop had seen some pretty weird things when it came to watching every Sonic in existence. But two Sonics from the same timeline was unheard of.

He had noticed the two Sonics about a half hour ago, and thought nothing of it. He simply chalked it up to illegal Zone-hopping, and instructed some of the lower-ranking officers to check it out. However, when they returned twenty minutes later saying that they hadn't been able to detect any Zone-hops pertaining to Sonic the Hedgehog or the Prime Zone, Zonic got suspicious. It was starting to seem like the doubles of Sonic and Tails had originated in the Prime Zone. Just who  _ were _ they, though? Robots? Mini-clones? Celebrity look-alikes? He unmuted the Prime Zone monitor- just one of hundreds in his headquarters- to get a better idea of what was going on on-screen. Once he did, he heard the Sonics and Tailses referring to each other as "older-me" and "younger-me." At that point, everything started to fall into place.

And now the confused hedgehog sat in his office, staring at the Prime Zone monitor in disbelief. There was literally a time paradox happening, live, on his screen. Was there anything he could do about it? He didn't exactly have prior experience with time travel. Not to mention, he didn't have access to all the details. Even after rewinding the tape back to that afternoon and reviewing the footage, he didn't learn much. Sonic and his friends were at a birthday party, they all got sucked into weird portals- the likes of which Zonic had never seen before- and then they were instantly back, with a younger Sonic and Tails in tow.

That left a lot of unanswered questions, and unanswered questions left Zonic uneasy. One question he had was: should he interfere? It was his job to deal with spatial abnormalities, sure. But time paradoxes? How exactly does one deal with those? Would it even be a good idea, introducing a third blue hedgehog whose name ended with "-onic" into the mix? Past experience told him that having more than two Sonics anywhere at any given time could possibly get really confusing, really fast.

The door to his private headquarters opened quietly behind him, the only sound made being the  _ whoosh _ of the metal door as it slid open. He turned around to greet his surprise guest. The intruder, another Zone Cop, based on his red-and-gold uniform, entered the room. A single yellow horn protruded from beneath the visor on his helmet, and he sported a long, curly, purple tail.

"Hey, Zonic," the newcomer said, raising his right hand in a lazy salute. Zonic stood up.

"Lieutenant Zespio," he said calmly, returning the salute with swift, accurate movements.

"Always with the formalities, eh Blue?"

"Always," the hedgehog said, dropping his hand to his side. He didn't mind when Zespio or Zector was informal with him during work, but he himself insisted on keeping things official at all times. "Anyway, what is it? I've kind of got something big here that I need to continue to look into, so make it fast," he said, speaking quickly. He glanced occasionally back at the Prime Zone monitor.

Zespio nodded. "Yeah, I know. That's actually what I came to talk to you about. You see, the chief has taken notice of this 'something big' and requested that you go see her immediately," he said, quick and to the point. The hedgehog groaned.

"Great... Just what I needed. A little pep talk from the new chief." He sighed and picked his helmet up off of his chair. He slipped the headgear onto his head, squeezing his short blue quills inside. He had previously had worn his quills long, like most other Sonics in the multiverse. However, professionalism called. Besides, he didn't have much use for long, sharp quills like his dimensional counterparts did. "I'll go to see her right away. If you're not busy, mind taking my shift until I get back?" he asked. Zespio smiled.

"No problem," he said. "Good luck. She's not in the best of moods today." Zonic nodded grimly before leaving his office, letting the chameleon handle monitor duty for a bit.

Zonic frowned. He wasn't much in the mood to go talk to the new chief. Especially if she was going to chew him out for something that wasn't even his fault. His old boss never would have done that. Chief Zally had been great at her job. She was qualified, and respected everyone who worked under her- and in turn, all of the officers that were under her jurisdiction had respected her. A few months ago, she had been promoted and moved to a different district of the Zone Cop Corps, so no one Zonic worked with had seen her in a while. In her place was a new up-and-comer, a "real determined and hard-working officer," as Zally had said. From the limited interaction Zonic had had with his new boss, he had to agree that the new girl had determination. Alas, she also was prone to being too hard on him and his men, and she expected everyone to work at a lightning-fast pace. It was true that Zonic liked his men to get work done quickly too, but he at least was understanding and knew that no one could work that hard for long stretches of time. The chief had a real fiery personality, there was no denying that.

Zonic stalked through the halls of the precinct until he arrived at the chief's office. He stood up straight and lowered his visor, as was expected of him, and knocked on the door before sticking his head in. The chief's office was well-furnished, with a wooden desk, computer, leather chairs, and various certificates and awards decorating the walls.

"You wanted to see me, ma'am?" he said, addressing the purple cat who was sitting behind the desk.

"Ah, Captain Zonic. Yes, come on in," she said, motioning for him to take a seat. Zonic entered the room, closing the door behind him. His expression was unreadable- hard as stone, and with only his mouth visible due to his visor covering his eyes. He sat down in one of the chairs, leaning back and lacing his fingers together.

"So, chief Zlaze," he said, taking the opportunity to speak first, "what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"It has to do with current events in the Prime Zone. Events which involve a certain blue hedgehog, whom I believe falls under  _ your _ watch, correct?"

"If you are referring to Sonic, then yes. What do these current events entail, exactly?"

"You know  _ damn _ well what they entail, officer," Zlaze said coolly. "They are concerned with the fact that there are- as I understand- two Sonics and two Tailses currently in the Prime Zone. However, all of the Sonics and Tailses that we keep tabs on are in their  _ own Zones, _ aside from Scourge, who is currently locked away behind bars in Zone Jail. So, seeing as you are the officer tasked with keeping watch over all of the Sonics in the multiverse, would you be so kind as to inform me as to what the  _ hell _ is going on?"

"Yikes, no need to get bitter, ma'am," Zonic said, sitting up straight and clearing his throat. "I was actually just looking into that issue. I believe it has something to do with time travel, not dimensional travel. The extra hedgehog and fox come from a different point in the Prime Zone's history."

"You  _ believe? _ "

"The issue was only brought to my attention about fifteen minutes ago. I still don't know everything about the situation."

"You seem to know enough. Why haven't you gone to the Prime Zone to investigate the matter yet? You DO know how serious time paradoxes can be, yes?"

"Well, yes ma'am, I do, but-"

"-But you were just about to leave to go to the Prime Zone? Excellent, that is exactly what I wanted to hear, Zonic."

"C-chief! I can't just go in there, I-"

"Off you go, Zonic. I am very busy at the moment, and I don't have the time to put up with your arguing. Our conversation here is done." Zlaze looked away from Zonic and turned to her computer. Zonic glared at her from under his mask, but said nothing more. He simply stood up, saluted, and walked out the door, closing it with a slam.

He walked back through the hallways to his office, appearing as calm as ever. The hedgehog was certainly glad he was good at covering up his emotions, because he was currently very unhappy.

_ 'What is with her? I haven't even done anything wrong!' _ he thought. _ 'It's almost like she's never served as a regular cop before. These things take time to scope out, especially when it's something as sensitive as a time paradox. I don't have any experience with these- NO ONE around here does. And she expects me to just waltz right into Prime Zone, and do what exactly? Go in and yell at some kids for being in the wrong time period? I tried to tell her that there's just nothing I can do about this. But of course, me being an "elite officer" and all, I'm expected to be able to do everything.' _ He huffed in frustration. He swore, sometimes the whole Zone Cop gig wasn't all it was cracked up to be.  _ 'I can't believe they thought that she would be a suitable replacement for Zally. Just because she's apparently good in a battle doesn't mean she's good at everything.' _ He shook his head. Now he had no choice but to go to Prime Zone, or else it was likely that he would lose his job. And he wasn't about to let that happen. Zonic sighed. At the very least, he could ask his Prime Zone counterpart about why there were currently two more people living with him than normal. Just because there was nothing he could do about the problem didn't mean that he wouldn't be able to learn more about it.

At that moment, in the Prime Zone, the four residents of the workshop were feeling drowsy after eating so much take-out food. The oldest hedgehog offered to clean up the mess they left in the living room. He took the leftovers to the kitchen, taking a few minutes to make room for them in the fridge. When he returned, however, he found his younger self and the two Tailses curled up on the couch, all of them fast asleep. He sighed, a small grin on his face.  _ 'Looks like we set up that bunk bed for nothing,' _ he thought. He yawned. He bent down to pick some stray napkins up off the floor, but stopped when something made his ear prick up. It sounded like a low-pitched hum, and was barely audible. Still, Sonic was able to recognize it. He stood up and turned around, finding himself standing face-to-face with a large, orange portal floating in the middle of his living room. He placed his hands on his hips as the portal opened up, revealing an armor-clad, sideways-standing police officer on the other side. The cop didn't look to be in a particularly good mood- then again, he usually looked like that.

"Sonic Prime. It's been a while," he said.

"Yeah, I'll say. Long time no see, Zonic!" Sonic said, flashing a smile. "What brings you over to this little corner of the multiverse?"

"I'll give you one guess," the cop said, his expression remaining stoic. Sonic exhaled through pursed lips as he glanced back at his sleeping friends on the couch. He scratched the back of his head before turning back to face the Zone Cop.

"Fine, get in here. Just be quiet about it, they all just fell asleep." Sonic motioned for the No-Zoner to come in before picking up the napkins that were still on the floor and setting them on the table. The officer crossed the threshold of the portal, the gateway closing up behind him. He stood sideways, floating in mid-air, like always. That was one thing that differentiated No-Zoners from other folks; because their zone was perpendicular to every other zone, they always ended up standing sideways when outside of their own dimension. Sonic had always wondered how exactly they managed to walk in mid-air and avoid walls and things, but he figured that that question didn't have a straight-forward answer, so he never bothered to ask about it. All he knew was that it probably took a lot of practice, as he himself was always extremely disoriented when he was in the No Zone.

"Let's talk outside," the officer suggested. "Don't want to accidentally wake  _ you _ up and cause any MORE confusion." Sonic playfully punched him in the arm.

"Was that a tiny hint of  _ humor _ I detect there, Zonic?" he said with a chuckle.

"I don't know. You tell me," Zonic replied blankly. The two went outside into the warm summer air. Sonic closed the front door behind him, and then leaned up against the side of the house. The Zone Cop looked down at him and folded his arms.

"Alright, so what do you wanna know?" Sonic asked nonchalantly.

"What I want to know is where those two kids came from. Am I correct in assuming that they're the past-versions of you and Tails?"

"Mmhmm. Our younger selves. It's kind of a long story, so you might wanna take a seat," Sonic suggested. Zonic shrugged and sat down on the side of the house. Sonic continued. "Alright, so me and some of my friends were just chilling out in this field, eating some food, having a good time. Then, all of a sudden, this gigantic purple and black monster appears out of nowhere, and opens up all these weird time-portals. He sucks everyone up into a different portal, and when I tried to save them, he just swatted me aside and I was knocked unconscious. When I came to, I was in this bizarre, empty, white limbo. The only things I could see in the distance were some colorless hills and cliffs, so I ran towards them. Turns out, it was Green Hill- all lifeless and dead. Once I ran through the place, it lit up like a Christmas tree, and all the colors came back. I ran through a few more places, all of them being places I had been in the past. And as I went along, I managed to save some of my friends, returning color to them too.

"Then, I come to this big, ominous door, right? So I walk in, and I'm in a long, black hallway, with one wall of the place being nothing but mirrors. Well, at least I  _ thought _ they were mirrors. What I thought was my reflection actually turned out to be  _ another Sonic- _ you know, the one currently passed out on my couch. We hear Eggman, and he says some stuff, and the two of us take off towards the end of the hallway, where this other huge door was. The little me reached it first, and it closed after he went in. Turns out, he got to battle one of Eggman's big old robots in the Death Egg. After I leave the weird hallway place, we meet up, and we find the younger Tails. We manage to figure out that Eggman had something to do with the monster that had abducted us all, and that the creature was ripping apart space and time. The more we ran, the more color and life was restored to the places and times he had decimated."

"Sounds like one whacked-up adventure, if you ask me," Zonic commented.

"Haha, dude, I think every adventure I've had with you can top the whole time-travel fiasco," Sonic laughed. "Anyways, we eventually restored everything we saw to color, nabbed all seven Chaos Emeralds, and got ready to fight the monster. And, surprise surprise, Eggman was behind the monster- he called it a Time-Eater- all along. And it wasn't just him! He actually had the audacity to recruit his past self to help him out. Can you believe that?" Sonic chuckled. "Anyhoo, we whooped their sorry Egg-butts and sent the Time-Eater packing. The world once again saved, we all went back to the real world, back to the field where we started out. After we hung out there for a little bit, a portal opened up that would take the littles back to their own time. And, as you might have guessed, they didn't make it. The portal closed up before they could get through it. That's why they're staying with us until we can find a way to get them home. You wouldn't happen to know how to make that happen, would you?" he asked the Zone Cop. Zonic shook his head.

"Sorry. Time travel isn't exactly my forte. If they were from another dimension, it would be no problem," he explained.  _ 'Try explaining that to the chief,' _ he thought to himself grumpily.

"Oh," Sonic said, a little disappointed. "It's okay, no prob. I just figured, you know, since you actually showed up, I thought you might be able to do something."

"I'll look into it when I get back to No Zone. No guarantees I'll be able to find anything though," Zonic said, standing up. Sonic nodded.

"Alright, thanks," he smiled. "So, how're things in No Zone?"

"Huh?"

"You know, what's up?"

"Ah. Well, Dr. Nega is spreading my forces thin, I've got the new chief breathing down my neck constantly, and I've been stuck doing monitor duty all week. Nothing but watching all the Sonics of the multiverse, all day every day."

"Jeez, Zonic, you ever do anything besides work?" Sonic asked, raising an eyeridge. The No-Zoner shrugged.

"Zespio and Zector were planning on taking me out tonight for my birthday, but the chief ordered me to come here to figure out what the deal was with the whole situation going on here. And, well... Duty calls," he said, flipping up the visor on his helmet, revealing his face.

"Oh, man, bummer majores," said Sonic. A light bulb went on in his head as a smile spread slowly across his face. "Wait here," he said, heading back inside. Zonic cocked an eyeridge.  _ 'What's he up to now?' _ the armor-clad hedgehog wondered. He was left waiting for only a moment, Sonic living up to his name. The speedster emerged from inside the house holding two plates, each one with a slice of cake on it. He handed one of the plates to Zonic with a grin.

"Happy birthday, Zonic," he said as Zonic took the plate of cake from him. The cop couldn't help but smile at this. Even though it was clearly leftovers from Sonic's own birthday cake, it was still birthday cake.

"Thanks, Sonic. You, too."

"Um, you can eat that, right? Because if the whole sideways thing is a problem-"

"Haha, no, I can eat it standing sideways," Zonic chuckled. "Trust me, I have practice with this kind of stuff."

"Okay, cool, just checking," Sonic said with a wink. "I couldn't just let you skip out on birthday fun because of your job. Even if you're practically a workaholic, you need time to chillax. Especially today!" Zonic nodded. He supposed it was true- he did have a tendency to take his work more seriously than he should. He had his reasons for this, of course, but that didn't deter from the fact that he worked almost constantly. It was nice to just kick back and enjoy his birthday for once. He took a bite of the cake- chocolate, his favorite!- and let the pastry rest on his tongue. Okay, he didn't care that the cake was leftover from that afternoon. It was really good.

It didn't take long for the two birthday boys to finish their cake, even with Zonic being forced to eat his at a somewhat awkward angle to make sure it didn't fall off his fork and onto the ground. Sonic let out a powerful burp.

"Oh, man! That's the stuff. Okay, I officially can't eat anything else today. I am stuffed," he laughed. "So, whatcha gonna do now?" he asked, looking up at his dimensional double. Zonic sighed, handed Sonic his empty plate, and flipped his visor back down over his eyes.

"Probably head back to No Zone. I still have work to do, after all. Thanks for the mini-birthday party, though. I needed it."

"Don't mention it! I mean, it's our twentieth. You shouldn't miss out on a little cake-break on your twentieth birthday, dude."

"Agreed," the Zone Cop concurred. "Well, I suppose my work here is done. I'll see you around, Prime," he said. He pressed a button in the center of his metallic belt buckle, which caused a Zone Portal to open up in front of him. He raised a hand goodbye as he leapt through the portal. Sonic waved back as the officer disappeared, leaving him alone outside the workshop. The sneaker-clad hedgehog turned to go back inside, placing his hand on the doorknob and twisted it. It wouldn't budge. He tried again, with similar results. Sonic groaned. He had accidentally locked himself out. Of course. At least it was warm outside.

Sonic jumped up to the roof with ease, placing the empty plates he was holding down on the shingles. He walked over to his bedroom window and pushed up on it. He could see that it was unlocked, but it was stuck fast. He shrugged nonchalantly. He was perfectly fine with sleeping on the roof, anyway, so it didn't really matter to him too much if he couldn't get inside. He laid down on the roof, arms crossed behind his head, quills relaxed so they spread out when his head came in contact with the shingled surface. He looked up at the stars twinkling in the night sky above.

_ 'Well, today's events were... unexpected, to say the least,' _ he thought.  _ 'Fun, though! Today was probably one of the best birthdays I've had in a long time. Lots of  _ me _ today. Me, my younger self, my double from No Zone... That's more Sonic than I bargained for today, but whatever. As long as Tails and I can get our past-selves back to their own time, we'll be in the clear. And considering little-me and I still have the Chaos Emeralds from when we went Super today, it shouldn't be too hard!' _ He smiled. This was going to be a cinch. He relaxed, letting his muscles loosen. He snuggled his face into his own quills- it is a little known fact that his quills are actually quite soft and comfortable if relaxed enough- and started to doze off.

"Wait." He shot up and reached inside his quills, where he had a habit of storing things. "Rings, check. Spare house key (hey, that would have been nice to know about a few minutes ago!), check. Chaos Emeralds... Emeralds, emeralds, emeralds, where the heck are those things?!" Sonic looked around for them frantically, thinking they might have fallen when he jumped up onto the roof. "No... No, those things stay put when I'm breaking the sound barrier, they wouldn't fall out of my quills just by me jumping up here. Don't tell me I lost them! Man, with all the time travel shenanigans that happened today, those things could be  _ anywhere! _ " He held his head in his hands and groaned. He flopped onto his back. "Tails is  _ soooo _ going to kill me in the morning," he mumbled, feeling like a complete idiot. He would just have to sleep on the roof, in order to put off that encounter until the morning.

  
  



	4. Prison Rat

Zone Jail. The most infamous high-security prison in the whole multiverse. Floating several hundred feet above the ground, it was virtually impossible to break in or out. The place where the worst of the worst were sent to reform. Only, one particular hedgehog's schedule didn't involve a whole lot of reforming at the moment. It mainly just involved getting beaten up in the rec yard before lunch.

"What do you want, Smalls?" the spiny mammal moaned through sharp teeth. "I'm not in the mood to get pummeled today, so if you wouldn't mind-"

"No can do, Snot," laughed Smalls, the blubbery, purple cat. He pounded his fist into his open palm. "Don't tell me you've forgotten what today is!"

"Wha...?"

"It's your birthday, ain't it? Well, I gotta let you have your birthday punches!" the cat grinned. The green hedgehog grimaced. Of course. Birthday punches. And birthday kicks. And birthday slaps. And birthday knees to his no-no zone. And maybe even a birthday concussion, at this rate.

"Oh, come on "King" Scourge, cheer up! It's not every day you turn twenty years old!" Smalls chuckled. He advanced towards the nervous hedgehog, who in turn, took several steps back. Smalls backed Scourge into a corner of the rec yard. No escape now. Several more inmates saw this and smiled. They all gathered around, some wanting to get a whack at Scourge themselves, some just wanting to watch the show. Scourge groaned.  _ 'Happy birthday, me,' _ he thought.

"C'mon Smalls, can't we just talk this over? I mean- hey, I still haven't healed from yesterday! You really wanna beat down on someone already broken? I'm sure I could find you some fresh meat to soften your knuckles on. How's that sound?" He asked hopefully.

"Tempting..." Smalls said, thinking the proposal through. Scourge's face slowly lit up. Smalls grinned darkly. "I'm gonna hafta pass on it, though, Birthday Boy." Scourge gulped. So much for Plan A. And since he was cornered with no escape, there was only one Plan B. And, as is the nature of the Plan B, this plan was way more risky.

Scourge was going to have to fight his way out of here.

Normally, fighting these bozos wouldn't have been a problem for the former king of the anti-zone, Moebius. He had been fast, strong, and ruthless. He had beaten Sonic, Shadow, and everyone else to a stand still. He had been unstoppable. The multiverse was his for the taking! He had only been beaten by a mere technicality: he had become weak and vulnerable after he was tricked into powering down from his Super form.

And now, the former king was stuck in the Zone Jail, powerless. Just another worm in the mud, getting his face beaten in day after day. After more or less a year of being trapped in this hellhole, Scourge was starting to really get sick of it.

Suddenly, a punch flew towards his head. Normally, thanks to his lightning-fast reflexes, Scourge would have been able to dodge the flying fist, no problem. But in the Zone Jail, with his abilities suppressed by the inhibitor collar around his neck, that was no longer the case. He took the punch square in the jaw, which sent him stumbling backwards into the concrete wall surrounding the yard. Luckily, the next punch that came at him from Smalls was visible a mile away, so he was able to duck out of the way in time. Smalls' fist smashed into the wall, cracking the cement.  _ 'Jeez, he means business this time!' _ Scourge thought, sidestepping around the large cat. Someone behind the hedgehog had stuck their leg out, catching his foot and causing him to trip backwards. He landed in the mud with an  _ oomph _ , but quickly leapt back to his feet. He wasn't going to go down  _ that _ easily.

He was quickly surrounded by three of the goons in the crowd. His quills bristled with anticipation. If only his sharp spines hadn't been cut short and kept pruned. Then maybe Scourge would have an advantage. One of the baddies surrounding him, a wolf, raised her fist up to clock him in the face. Scourge got ready to dodge the punch and counterattack, but was caught off guard by a sudden kick to the back, thanks to the skunk behind him. He stumbled forward, walked right into the awaiting punch, and tumbled backward. The other inmates started shoving him around like he was a plaything, all the while adding to his collection of bruises. He rammed his head into the skull of a weasel who was closing in on him with a punch, and then swung his leg around to kick the wolf in the stomach. Unfortunately, this only seemed to make them mad. Scourge felt a hand grip the back of his shirt, tipping him off balance. Smalls, having removed his fist from the wall by this point, ran up and punched him again, this time landing a hit straight in his gut. The hedgehog collapsed to his knees and coughed. He wiped a little bit of blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Hey! Break it up!" yelled a voice from above. One of the guards of the prison, walking above them on a suspended walkway, had his rifle pointed towards the group of inmates. Realizing their fun was over, the crowd began to disperse, some grumbling that they didn't get a turn, some laughing at the fact that the former king of Moebius had become nothing more than their punching bag.

"Happy birthday, Snot," Smalls laughed, giving the hedgehog one final kick in the side before walking off. Scourge slowly got back to his feet.  _ 'That didn't go as well as I'd hoped,' _ he thought, spitting out a little more blood. He must have accidentally bit his tongue when he got punched in the mouth before. Fantastic. His mutation just had to have given him razor-sharp teeth. He exhaled. This wasn't one of the best birthdays he's had, that was for sure. He sat down on a bench in the corner of the yard.

_ 'Man... I remember the birthday I had a few years ago. A permanent transformation thanks to the Master Emerald on Mobius was a helluva birthday present. Enhanced speed, more power… Not to mention a makeover. The day I finally became more than a cheap knock-off of Sonic.' _ He frowned. Sonic. His dimensional duplicate. His goody two-shoes, true blue twin. The one who had put him in the Zone Jail in the first place. Scourge couldn't stand the thought of him. The guy that everybody loved, the guy who always won, the guy who just  _ had _ to be the hero at everything he did. The one who, somehow, had always managed to one-up him.

Of course, being alternate-dimension versions of one another, they were more similar than they would care to admit. Scourge cringed as the words Sonic once told him snaked back into his head.

_ "All it would take is a little bit of selflessness, a little decency... And  _ you'd _ be just like  _ me _." _

Scourge clenched his fists tight at the haunting memory. He detested admitting it, but Sonic wasn't far off from the truth. He could feel it inside of him. With his current lack of power, he just didn't have it in him to try anything evil or malicious. He was determined to not become a goody-goody, but he had a hard time identifying himself as a criminal, like the other inmates in the prison. Maybe it was the time spent powerless behind the bars, or the daily beatings, but he just didn't feel like he was one of them anymore. He was starting to see a tiny bit of Sonic in him- and THAT was scaring him.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. He had caught himself thinking about the differences- or, lack of- between him and Sonic more and more recently. At least when he was getting pummeled, that was all physical. He could deal with that. When he was left alone with his thoughts? That could get just downright haunting at times.

_ 'But why? Why am I so determined to be the biggest baddie, anyway? Just 'cause I'm the 'anti-Sonic,' I have to be evil by default? There's got to be some other reason!' _ he thought. He looked around the rec yard and frowned.  _ 'Well, duh, it's because people  _ respect _ me when I'm evil. No one cares about me unless they feel threatened by me. That's why I'm nothing but trash in this place. I can't do much to anyone without my speed, so they see that as a green light to beat me senseless.' _

_ 'Yeah, but Sonic doesn't need to intimidate to get respect,' _ said the little voice in his head.  _ 'People respect him, power or not.' _ Scourge tried to squash the voice out, but that idea was implanted in his head now. Sonic had  _ friends _ who stuck by him, not just temporary allies that turned on him when it suited them. Even when Sonic made a mistake, he always had someone there to back him up. On the other hand, one mistake for Scourge landed him in prison, with no sign of help coming. How big of a threat had he really been then, if none of his so-called "allies" even thought about busting him out of this joint? Was he really so negligible? Just another petty criminal who got too big for his boots, some egomaniac who crashed and burned? A washed-up has-been, even?

He tried to push the thoughts away, shove them into some distant corner of his mind, when the lunch bell rang.  _ 'Perfect. Maybe some food will get my mind out of this rut,' _ he thought, standing up. He flinched. His midsection was pretty sore, and it was likely going to be black-and-blue in the morning. He wasn't even feeling particularly hungry at the moment. Still, he would do just about anything to escape from his little pity-party. He followed the crowd of people heading back inside, keeping his head low so as to not draw attention to himself. He wasn't in the mood for any more birthday punches today.

Soon, the green hedgehog was sitting down at an empty table near the back of the cafeteria, poking at his food with his plastic fork. Oh boy, generic slop- his favorite. Oh well, at least it was better than mud; Scourge had had his face shoved into the dirt more times than he could count, and he still hated the taste. He took a bite of his food, the lukewarm mush slithering down his throat. He shuddered and pushed the plate away from him with his fork. His stomach couldn't handle this garbage at the moment. Oh, what he would give for a chili dog right about then.

"Oh, there you are!" said a high-pitched voice coming from behind Scourge.

"We found you!" another one said. The former king cringed. He knew those voices all too well. He turned his head to see two short, cartoony-looking humanoids approaching him, looking all too happy to see him. He groaned as they sat down on either side of him, plopping their trays of food down simultaneously.

_ 'Cal and Al. Fantastic.' _ Scourge was less than fond of the two strange beings. Granted, they were the only two people in the whole jail who didn't beat on him, but that was mainly because they were two of the only people weaker than he was. They meant well, but their over-the-top cheeriness and friendliness was just too much for the hedgehog to handle at any given moment, and they usually just made him feel worse about his current situation.

"What's the matter, ol' chum? Something got you down?" Cal asked in his annoying little voice.

"I was a freaking KING, for pity's sake. I shouldn't be getting smacked around like this," the hedgehog grumbled in response, looking straight ahead.

"Well, look on the bright side!" Al said, "Cal and I were gods back in our home Zone! And since you were only a king, that kind of puts it... in perspective?" He finished his statement nervously as Scourge glared daggers at him.

"And besides, it's your birthday, isn't it? The big 2-0! You should be celebrating!" said Cal, backing up his companion.

"Pfft. With trash like this?" Scourge scoffed, poking his "food" with his fork. "If I eat any more of this crud, I'm gonna blow chunks. How much you wanna bet that all my other dimensional twins are eatin' birthday cake and lounging around and having a grand old time while I'm stuck in here? Yeah, some birthday." He stood up and tossed his food in the garbage.

"H-hey, buddy, where're you going?" Al asked.

"None of your business," Scourge said, turning and walking out of the mess hall. He was really not in the mood to put up with Cal and Al at the moment. He would do just about anything to escape his self-pity party, but hanging around those two was not one of them.

_ 'Buddy? Yeah, right. It's obvious that those two only hang around me because I'm more fun for everyone else to beat up. They're using me as a  _ meat shield, _ for crying out loud.' _ Scourge exhaled and dragged his hand down one side of his face.  _ 'Man, at this point, I think I'd rather be alone with my thoughts than get stuck with anyone else in this joint,' _ he thought. He turned left down the hallway, and headed in the direction of the prison showers. If he couldn't eat, he might as well clean the dirt and blood off of himself. Not to mention, the chances of someone bothering him in there while food was being served were minimal.

Approaching the shower room for the male inmates, Scourge poked his head in the door cautiously. Luckily, the room was empty, and he heaved a sigh of relief. He closed the door behind him as he entered. The room was more like a multi-sectioned hallway than anything else. The walls and floor were all tiled, and there were drains placed in the ground at equal increments. Seeing how privacy in the prison was close to non-existent, everyone pretty much showered in the open. He removed his boots and orange jumpsuit and placed them aside. Turning on the water, he stood under the spray and let himself get soaked. He didn't care that the water wasn't warm. It was still refreshing enough. He started to scrub the mud and dried up blood out of his fur. The cool water puddled around his feet, providing Scourge with a reflection of himself.

His reflection. His, and at the same time, not his at all. Even after his mutation triggered by the Master Emerald, he still looked almost exactly like his sworn enemy. Every time he looked at his own face, it felt as if Sonic were staring down at him triumphantly, declaring something stupid like, "Good always wins in the long run!"

Scourge chuckled to himself. "Huh, wonder if the good guy side is hiring. I could do with a nice victory or two," he mused. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the tiled wall, letting the water cascade down his spines, which had been cut short as soon as he arrived in the prison.  _ 'Actually... In all seriousness, having people who actually gave a crap about me would probably be a pretty good deal. Even with all that responsibility that comes with the whole hero job, at least I wouldn't be alone.' _ He pondered the idea for about two seconds before rejecting the notion outright.  _ 'Gah, what am I thinking! Changing sides? Pull yourself together, Scourge. You're supposed to be the fearless King of Moebius, not some pansy who needs backup and group hugs to make himself feel good.' _

He shook his head. It felt like he was at war with himself; his common sense vs. his ego. Common sense dictated that life as a villain hadn't been exactly paying off, and that he  _ did _ possess the potential to change. His ego, on the other hand, kept saying that being evil was just who he was, and that being imprisoned was just a minor setback on his path to power and glory.

Common sense asked why he needed power and glory in the first place.

Ego responded saying that he needed to be respected and honored.

Common sense retorted, stating that there was more than one way to earn people's respect.

Scourge clenched his eyes shut and stuck his fingers in his ears to try and block out the arguing voices in his head. "Shut up shut up shut up!" he yelled, bringing himself back to reality. He couldn't keep going like this. As if paranoia and weakness hadn't been enough, he could now add 'mental instability' to his list of side effects of being in Zone Jail. He sighed. He knew that if he thought on it long enough, he could decide once and for all whether being a bad guy was really still in his best interests or not. The problem was, he was afraid of willingly identifying himself as a good guy. It went against everything he knew, and he felt way out of his comfort zone even considering the idea. Even so… there were certainly perks to the good guy lifestyle. For one, he wouldn't be in jail if he were a hero. That was pretty much a given. But he could have friends, allies that would stick by him and  _ not _ use him as a meat shield. People would respect him, even if he was powerless and weak. And maybe, just maybe, he would be able to win at something for once in his life.

The green hedgehog glanced back down at his reflection in the puddle at his feet. Maybe he was only the way he was today because of the cards he had been dealt. After all, he and Sonic were essentially the same in every aspect except their pasts and their attitudes. Heck, Scourge could have easily grown up like Sonic did, and he would have turned out to be a hero. If he hadn't been born on the Anti-Mobius, his life would have been completely different. It was kind of weird to think about. There were hundreds- no, thousands of Sonics in the multiverse. And he could have ended up as any one of them. The only reason they were all different was because they all grew up in different places. They all had the potential to be like one another.

Scourge had the potential to be like Sonic.

He shuddered at the thought. He wasn't ready for anything like that. Not yet. Maybe he would give the whole good guy gig a shot, though. After seeing how well being a villain had worked out, Scourge figured it couldn't hurt to try something new.

He shut off the shower, the water having turned from refreshing to just plain cold. Grabbing a fresh towel from the corner, he began to dry himself off. "Now..." he wondered aloud, slipping his clothes back on, "What does a guy have to do around here to get a shot at being the hero?"


	5. Sonic and the Valley of the Wind

"You  _ WHAT? _ " It was morning in the workshop, and Tails had let his older brother back into the house, only to hear some very distressing news. "You LOST the Chaos Emeralds?!" Sonic could practically see the smoke puffing out of the fox's ears.

"I said I was sorry, didn't I?" he said with a corny whoopsie-daisy smile, his ears falling flat against his head. Tails shook his head and frowned.

"Sonic... Come on, we need those! How could you just lose them?"

"I dunno! I don't even know when I lost them. And besides, how do you know for sure that we need them? Maybe we can figure out this whole time travel thing all on our own."

"Yeah, maybe. But you know the drill," Tails stated. "Whenever anything big goes down, we need all seven Chaos Emeralds to make things right again. It's practically a law of physics at this point; the only way to get anything done is with the Emeralds."

"You have a good point there," Sonic admitted, putting a finger to his chin in thought. "I'm sure we can find them again, though. We always do. And besides, this time there are two of me and two of you! We can get the job done, double time."

Tails glanced back at the couch, where the two time-travelers were still asleep. Lil' T had curled himself up into the young Sonic's lap, and the two were sleeping soundly. "You had better hope so," the older fox said. "I don't know what these two being here will do to the timeline. This whole household has practically become a walking time paradox overnight."

Sonic scoffed. "Oh, come on. It can't be that damaging to the timeline if they're here for a little while, can it?"

"I'm not sure. But... remember yesterday, when they were playing Super Mega Blasteroids 9? They beat the boss at level 10," Tails stated. Sonic was confused.

"Yeah... What's your point?"

"My  _ point _ is that we couldn't beat that level when we were their age. We beat it when we were older- by a few years, in fact. I know it's not a very big time paradox, but it still counts!"

"Really? It took us THAT LONG to get past level 10? Man. We are sad, sad individuals, Tails."

"Sonic! Look at the big picture, please."

"Okay, okay! Right, yeah. Time paradox, got it. I still don't see how it's such a huge deal. They beat the level before we did, so what. I don't see the universe falling apart at the seams or anything," the hedgehog pointed out.

"Hey, I'm not claiming to know the exact science of how paradoxes work. All I'm saying is, the longer they're here, the more we're in danger of something bad happening with the flow of time. I can just feel it," Tails protested. Sonic nodded.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to get the Emeralds back before that 'something bad' happens!" he said with a cocky grin. He rubbed the fox's head reassuringly. "I'm gonna take a shower. That's the bad thing about sleeping on the roof, I get all kinds of sticks and stuff stuck in my quills." He pulled a small twig out from behind his head to emphasize his point. He climbed the stairs and entered the bathroom, leaving Tails in the living room with the younger incarnations of themselves. The kit's namesakes swished about in frustration.

_ 'I don't even know where we should start looking for the Chaos Emeralds! They have a tendency to spread out all over the place, so they could be anywhere on Mobius right about now,' _ he thought with a groan. It was looking like he was going to have to boot up his old Emerald-locating equipment again. The gems had all been relatively easy to find when they were saving the world from the Time-Eater yesterday (Tails could barely believe that all that had happened less than twenty-four hours ago. It felt like weeks), as they were only so many places for them to hide. Now, they had the whole planet to spread out across. Even with the extra help from their past-selves, Tails estimated that it would take him and Sonic at least one week, maybe two, to gather up all the Emeralds again. He didn't feel very good about the whole situation, but that might have just been a consequence of being one of the only people who was worried.

_ 'As long as the time stream holds up... I should really look into that as well, and make sure nothing is getting screwed up with all the time shenanigans taking place here.' _ Tails sighed. It was going to be a long day.

He went into the kitchen and grabbed an apple out of the bowl on the counter. He took a bite out of it, the juice running down his muzzle. He wiped it off with the back of his hand and went back into the living room. He sat down in one of the armchairs and turned on the TV. He would start on his work once the sleeping forms on the couch woke up. Tails didn't really want to leave them alone; they were still in a fairly foreign environment, after all.

The fox started to flip through the channels on the television, unsuccessfully checking to see if anything good was on. He put on the news channel. If he was lucky, maybe there would be a report on someone who had found a Chaos Emerald. The odds in favor of that happening were infinitely low, but the two-tailed fox could hope.

The sound of the television caused the ear of the hedgehog asleep on the couch to prick up. He yawned, his eyes slowly opening. He rubbed the sleep out of them with his free hand- his little brother was curled up with the other one. He massaged the back of his neck, sore after sleeping at an odd angle.

"Hey, you're awake," Tails said, smiling. The twelve-year-old nodded.

"Mmmh," he said groggily.  _ 'So it wasn't just some dream after all. Looks like we really are stuck eight years in the future,' _ he thought, looking around the room. "Where's older-me?"

"Takin' a showah," Tails responded after taking a bite out of his apple. He chewed and swallowed in frustration. "Would you believe that he actually went and lost the Emeralds he was carrying?" he exclaimed angrily.

"Oh, yeah, I lost mine too," the younger Sonic nodded.

"Are you serious?"

"Uh-huh. I noticed they were gone once we left that white, empty dimension. I think going through that portal must have sent them away or something? I'm not really sure. I figured we were done with them, so I didn't think it was important enough to bring up. Why, do we need them?" the hedgehog asked. Tails shrugged.

"I'm not exactly sure right now. As of right now, we don't have a way to get you and the younger-me back to your own time. When it comes to stuff like this, the Emeralds usually hold the key to the solution, so I would've liked to have them around," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"You have a good point there," Sonic agreed. He looked up at the TV. The volume was low, so he couldn't tell what was going on, but the news anchor looked serious about something. Tails followed the young speedster's gaze and turned up the volume on the TV.

"-completely dark. We repeat: Windy Valley is completely dark. For some reason, the suns' rays are not entering the area, and it still appears as if it is nighttime. We will continue to bring you updates as we get them, but let me tell you, experts are baffled by this strange occurrence."

"Well, that's something you don't see every day," Tails said curiously. The sun not rising in one region of the Mystic Ruins? That was scientifically impossible.

"I get the feeling that this has something to do with me and Tails being here," Sonic said, referring to the child still asleep in his lap. The older Tails frowned.

"You might be right about that. We should look into this, maybe we can find out what's going on over there."

"Alright, I'm game. Can we have breakfast first, though?" Sonic asked.

"Haha, yeah, sure. We've gotta wait for your older-self to get his butt out of the shower, anyway. C'mon, let's see what we've got in the kitchen." The fox pressed the mute button on the TV remote, silencing the current news broadcast, and stood up. Mini-Sonic gently nudged the small kit who was cuddling up on his lap.

"C'mon kiddo, time to wake up," he said, shaking the child's shoulder. Tiny Tails yawned, showing all his teeth.

"Mmm... Hi Sawnik," he said sleepily, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Whassup?"

"You want some breakfast, Squirt?" Sonic lifted the six-year-old up off of his lap and set him down on the couch. "We've got a lot of stuff to do today."

"Like what?" Lil'T asked.

"Like solving a mystery. Come on, let's get some grub." The hedgehog hopped off the couch and led his friend into the kitchen.

The older Sonic returned downstairs about fifteen minutes later, his fur still a little damp from his shower. He glanced sideways at the muted television and entered the kitchen to find the Tailses and his twelve-year-old self.

"What, you guys couldn't wait for me before you decided to have breakfast?" the royal blue hedgehog said with a grin. He rubbed the younger Tails' head as he walked over to the fridge. He opened the door and reached his hand inside, pulling out a carton of orange juice. He took a swig of the juice right from the carton before offering some to his younger self.

"Ew, no way dude, gross," the small hedgehog said, making a face in disgust.

"You do realize that we have the same germs, right?" the older one said with a chuckle. When his double refused the orange juice again, he simply shrugged, took another gulp of the juice, and put it back into the fridge. "So, what's up? We have any plans today, or what?"

"Actually," Tails said, "I was wondering if you all could go check out Windy Valley, and see what's going on there.  _ I _ have to stay here and start tracking down the Chaos Emeralds, seeing as how  _ some people _ managed to lose track of all seven."

"I apologized for that, like, ten times already! Why does nothing please you?!" Sonic yelled dramatically, shaking his fists in the air for added emphasis. "Wait- Windy Valley? What's up with Windy Valley?"

"Apparently, the sun never rose there," his younger persona said from behind him. "It's still nighttime there. No one has any idea why."

"Whoa. Sounds like fun!" The elder couldn't help but smile. He didn't care that he and his friends had just saved the world yesterday- he was always ready for a new challenge! "Wonder why the sun's not up yet, though? I mean, Windy Valley is just on the other side of Mystic Ruins. The sun should be shining over there by now."

The older Tails nodded. "Which is why we need to look into this. I'll bet you anything that this has to do with all the time travel nonsense that happened yesterday." He and Sonic turned and faced their younger selves, Sonic cocking an eyeridge.

"H-hey, don't go looking at us!" the light blue hedgehog said defensively, taking a step closer towards his little brother.

"Yeah! 'Snot our fault we're stuck here," the small fox kit pouted.

"We never said we were blaming you for anything!" the older Sonic exclaimed. "Just, you know... It's one heck of a coincidence that you two are in the wrong time period, and then something like this happens. Because if I had to guess, I'd guess that time in Windy Valley is frozen. Or, at least, going really really slow. That's why it's still night there," he explained.

"I was thinking about that, too, but we won't know for sure until you guys go and check it out," Tails said.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's get this show on the road! Lil' T, you gonna come with us?" Sonic asked with a grin. The young fox nodded excitedly and stood up in his chair.

"Yeah! We're gonna solve a mystery!" he cheered.

"Just don't forget to take a communicator with you," his older self said. "I want to keep in touch, just in case anything happens."

"Aye aye, captain," said the twenty-year-old hedgehog. "Come on, kids! Let's go on an adventure!" He had a huge smile plastered on his face as he swiped a stray wrist communicator up off the kitchen table. He led the way out of the house with his arms held up high above his head. Lil' T followed behind gleefully, giggling excitedly. The younger Sonic scratched the inside of his ear. He turned to face the larger fox who was still in the kitchen.

"I'll keep an eye on them," he said with a sigh.

"Good idea. Have fun, and good luck," the two-tail said. The light blue hedgehog nodded and followed the other two out the front door.

It was a warm, sunny morning- perfect for a run through the Mystic Ruins. The eldest of the group stretched his arms out to the side to take in more sunlight.

"Man, that feels good! You guys are going to like Windy Valley, let me tell you," he said, walking down the front steps of the workshop. "Tons of pathways to run on, lots of stuff to jump off of, plenty of room to fly around... Usually a lot of tornadoes around there, too. Those are extra fun, but I don't think we'll see one today. It's too nice out," he said.

"Whoa whoa whoa, tornadoes? Don't you think that's a little... extreme?" his younger self said, his eyes wide open.

"Nonsense! You haven't lived until you've ran around in one of those. But like I said, I don't think there'll be any today." Sonic looked down at the crystal key that was still lying by the front door. The gemstone on top of it was lime green, and had a swirl symbol on it. He bent down and picked it up, the stone key feeling heavy in his hand. "We're gonna need this," he said to himself. "Come on you two, it's not far to the entrance. Let's roll out!"

And with that, they were off. With the older Sonic leading the way, the trio made their way down the plateau and across the grassy hills of the ruins. They ran slowly enough so that Tails could keep up, but they still managed to make good time. It wasn't long at all before they reached a crevice in the wall of a cliff. Ushering the two youngsters in, Sonic pulled out the key.

Looking around, he was surprised that more people weren't around here- after all, mobians and humans alike were curious creatures, and would no doubt want to catch a glimpse of the valley which was still enveloped in darkness. Then again, this entrance to the valley was technically a shortcut, and without the key, it was impossible to get in. He dropped the key near a small pedestal jutting out of the ground. The artifact floated up into the air, and maneuvered itself into the correct position before lowering into a square shape indent on the pedestal's surface.

"Stand back!" the adult hedgehog yelled, backing away towards the wall. The ground began to rumble and shake as a massive gust of air blew up through one side of the small cavern. The floor on the far side of the area was completely blown away as a geyser of wind lifted it up with intense force. The bellowing winds were incredibly loud, and Lil' T had to cover his ears. The older Sonic motioned towards his younger self and Tails to follow him, and he started to walk calmly towards the massive air current.

Little Sonic's jaw dropped. "You want us to go  _ in there?! _ " he shouted. Alas, the wind was too loud, and his voice was carried away. He shook his head.  _ 'I can't believe I'm doing this.' _ He grabbed Tails' hand and walked alongside his older self, who smiled at him confidently. The taller hedgehog raised his hand and held up one finger. Then he raised up a second, and a third. With the third finger up, all three of them leapt into the wind and were blown away instantly.

"Wooooohoohoohooooooo!" Macro-Sonic cheered as he soared through the air. "This never gets old!"

"GET ME DOWN GET ME DOWN GET ME DOWN GET ME DOWN!" yelled his past-self, who was clearly having less fun than he was.  _ 'I really hope I don't become this crazy when I'm older!' _ he thought, knowing that the sentiment was to no avail- his future self had convinced him to do this, after all. Next to him, Tails was squealing with delight. The kid looked like he was having the time of his life. The wind blew the three of them through twisting, turning caverns and passageways, many of which had small propellers on the walls to catch the wind.

After careening at high-speeds through the various tunnels for several seconds, the trio was shot out into the open air. Lil' T grabbed a hold of the younger Sonic's hands and started to rapidly spin his twin tails, allowing for a slow and steady descent to the ground below. The older hedgehog simply dropped from the sky, landing on the ground feet-first with no difficulty. This was mainly because he loved coming to Windy Valley to run, and was used to being tossed around by the strong wind currents.

"That was fun! Let's do that again!" Lil' T exclaimed as he and his brother landed on the ground.

"Well, at least someone enjoyed it," the young Sonic stated, trying to regain his balance after the disorienting ride. He managed to steady his legs, and glanced up at the sky. It was still dark, with the moon and stars still visible. "Whoa," he gasped. "They weren't kidding when they said it was still nighttime here, were they?"

"What happened to this place...?" the older hedgehog wondered aloud. The whole area was dead silent; there were no birds chirping, or small critters scurrying about. There wasn't even any wind blowing. The whole valley was completely still.

"It's creepy here," the small fox commented, looking around. "It feels really empty."

"You said it. This place is usually full of wind, all the time. There are always tons of birds around, too, because the small floating islands scattered around here are great for them to nest on. But it doesn't look like anyone's here," the elder Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Do you think everyone left? Or... are all the people and animals in this zone frozen, just like the sky?" the golden-yellow kit asked him. Macro-Sonic shook his head.

"I'm not sure. There's only one way to find out, though. Follow me," he said, starting to walk across the cliff they were a standing on towards a large wooden bridge. The bridge connected the piece of land they were currently on with another cliff; in fact, these twisting wooden pathways sprawled across Windy Valley, connecting all the bits of land to one another. The walkways were all lightweight and made so that they resembled grates, with multitudes of small holes in the floor to allow the wind to blow through it without causing any structural damage. Sonic began to lead the two kids to a group of mountains in the distance. If the speedster remembered correctly, those mountains were the home to a number of villages. Maybe they could find some answers there.

"Be careful not to fall, you guys," he said turning back to face the two time-travelers. "It's a long way from here down to any kind of surface, and there isn't any wind blowing to catch you if you trip."

The younger Sonic took a peek over the side of the cliff and gulped. He shouldn't have looked. It wasn't just a long way down to the bottom- they were practically above the clouds! How on Mobius there was still breathable air this high up, he had no idea. And quite frankly, he wasn't complaining. Still, it was an impressive sight, to say the least.

"Wow, we're so high up!" Tails noted excitedly, kneeling down on all fours near the edge. "I can see the workshop from here!"

"Tails, you back away from there right now!" the young hedgehog yelled, pulling his little brother away from the edge. "Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry Sonic, I just wanted to see, is all," the child said innocently, pulling his tails up close to his chest. He frowned apologetically, and looked up at Sonic with large, puppy dog eyes. The face would have been enough to make even Eggman melt. The light blue hedgehog sighed.

"It's okay, it's not your fault. Just please try and be  _ careful _ from now on, okay Squirt?" he said, rubbing the fox kit's head.

"Deal!" he said with an enthusiastic nod.

Meanwhile, ignoring the advice of his past-self, the twenty-year-old hedgehog was glimpsing curiously over the side of the cliff.  _ 'Everything in the distance is light... It's like it's daytime everywhere but here,' _ he noticed. He looked back down over at everything, hundreds of feet below.

"Ooh, there's the workshop! And that must be the train station, and that's Station Square..." he said to himself, pointing and listing all the places he could make out. 

"Oh no, not you too," his younger self moaned, slapping a palm to his face.

"What? I'm just lookin', lighten up!" the adult hedgehog replied. The communicator he was wearing on his wrist began to ring. He pressed a small button on the side of it, turning on the microphone and speaker.

"Talk to me," he said, speaking into the watch-esque device.

"Hi, Sonic! Did you and the littles make it to Windy Valley okay?" Tails said from the other end. His voice was a bit grainy, but still understandable.

"Yeah, we got here just fine. It's so weird here, though! Everything seems so... bleak. It's dark, there's no living creatures around, and there's no wind blowing. Not even a breeze."

"Wow. I think that's a first for Windy Valley. That's definitely interesting, though.  _ Does _ sound like stuff that would happen if time really did freeze."

"Totally. We were going to check out the villages around here, see what the deal is over there. Do you have any leads on the Chaos Emeralds yet?"

"Nothing definite yet, but I am picking up some energy readings not too far from you. Keep a look out for anything out of the ordinary."

"Can do, Tails. Thanks for the heads-up. Talk to you later, pal!" the hedgehog said enthusiastically before pressing a small button on the watch, ending the call. He slipped the watch back under his glove and turned to face the two children who had come with him. "C'mon you two, let's hit the road. Time's a wastin'! Not, you know, literally. Duh. But who cares, let's keep going!" He motioned for his younger-self and Lil' T to follow, and then took off speeding down one of the many winding bridges, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. The other two were off mere seconds later, quickly catching up and matching the older hedgehog's speed. Tails flew alongside the bridge, taking advantage of boost rings in the air to give him quick bursts of speed. Seeing his little bro flying above what was essentially a bottomless pit made the younger sonic nervous, but he believed that the fox could handle himself, and he didn't want to be a  _ total _ killjoy.

After running through a few loops and rocketing across several platforms, they were forced to a stop. Screeching to a halt, the two hedgehogs left skid marks on the grass. Tails landed on the ground next to them, breathing heavily. "Great, its a dead end," the adolescent hedgehog huffed.

"It's not supposed to be, though." his older self said, frowning. He inspected the two signposts standing at the cliff's edge. There were propellers on top of each of them, as well as various flags and windsocks, frozen in mid-air, used to determine the direction of the wind. He patted one of the posts with his hand. "These mark areas where the wind currents get crazy strong. Normally, the wind is so powerful that you can run on it if you're fast enough. But now..." He placed a tentative foot over the edge of the cliff. Just has he had expected- no wind. He sighed, he hated seeing Windy Valley like this. It was such a fun place to run, but now it felt dead.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked the lighter blue hedgehog. He looked around. There was seemingly no way off the small island they were standing on, besides the bridge they ran in on. There was a red spring near the island's hedge, perfect for jumping off of and getting some air. Unfortunately, this spring was pointed straight up, leading to nothing but a trail of rings leading off into the distance. The older Sonic followed the younger's gaze and smiled. "That will do just fine," he said, bouncing on his feet. "Lil' me, you know how to light-speed dash?"

"Light-speed  _ what _ ?"

"I guess not. Okay then, time for a piggy-back ride. Tails, you fly close, okay? We're getting outta here, and we're getting outta here fast." He lifted the surprised twelve-year-old speedster onto his back and relaxed his quills so he wouldn't impale the kid by accident. He took a few steps back before running up to the spring, jumping, and landing square on its center. The spring sent the two Sonics high into the air, right towards the rings. The older one closed his eyes and focused on the golden circlets in the air. He reached out and touched one of them. It made a  _ bling _ noise as it disappeared and its energy got absorbed by the hedgehog. Just that small dose of energy was enough to allow him to instantly speed across the path of rings that was floating in mid-air in front of him. While he wasn't exactly traveling at the speed of light, he was moving with a velocity of several machs. Before the smaller hedgehog even knew what was happening, they had reached the end of the line of rings and landed safely on solid ground.

"... What just happened," he gasped, shakily climbing off of the older Sonic's back.

"Pretty cool move, huh? It comes in handy when you get in a pinch like that!" the taller 'hog said with a cocky grin. Tiny Tails flew over and landed a few feet away.

"That was TOTALLY WICKED!" he shouted, running over to the two Sonics. "You ran in, and then, SPROING! You're in the air, and then, and then you go WHOOOOSH, you take off and you're going all over the place and it was AWESOME!"

"Oh, stop it, you're making me blush," the adult quickster joked. "Come on you two, let's get going. We're almost at the village." Once again, he led the way as they started off down the bridges again. The two Sonics ran side-by-side as Tails flew on ahead, taking advantage of his unobstructed flight path.

"So," the smaller hedgehog asked his future self, "how did you do that? That speed of light ring thing."

"You mean the light-speed dash?" the elder corrected. "It's not easy. I only used to be able to do it if I attached a special machine to my shoes. Eventually, I learned that I could use rings to give myself a boost of speed, and if there's a trail of rings, I can boost across them at high speeds. All it takes is a little concentration," he explained.

"Cool. I'm going to have to try that one of these days. Sounds like it would come in handy."

"Oh, definitely! You won't be able to do it for a few years yet, but it's never too early to start practicing!"

"Guys!" Lil' T shouted back at them, still flying ahead. "I can see the village!" He landed on the ground below him, and the two Sonics were soon standing at his side. The fox pointed to a large, nearby island. This island, unlike the others, had houses made of stone, windmills with the propellers frozen still, and lampposts that were still glowing bright.

The older Sonic nodded, silently giving the word for everyone to follow him across the wooden bridge connecting the two islands, and into the town. He went at a slow jog, going much slower than he would normally. The village, even with lights still lit, felt like a ghost town.

The place seemed even spookier when the trio started to walk around the village. There were still people walking about, frozen in mid-step. Two lovers were frozen in mid-kiss. A child who tripped on his shoelace, suspended in mid-fall.

"I think it's safe to assume that time has stopped here," Mini-Sonic whispered, waving his hand in front of the face of an unresponsive townsperson.

"This is really freaky," his double said, inspecting a fountain. The water shooting up and cascading down into the basin was completely still. The hedgehog dipped his finger in one of the small waterfalls. He could feel his glove and digit getting wet, but the water didn't splash. "Weird."

Lil' T was exploring closer to the end of the island, inspecting a group of gold rings that someone must have dropped. There were about fifty of the rings scattered around on the ground. The fox kit looked over the edge of the cliff to see that a large number of rings had spilled off the island. They were suspended in mid-air, floating instead of falling, as they should have been. It was truly fascinating to the young child, seeing as the physics of time-space were being altered right in front of him. Even as a fun-loving kid, Tails still had a passion for science.

Unfortunately, his curiosity got the best of him. He scooted closer and closer to the edge of the cliff to get a better look at the rings, not realizing that the ground beneath his feet wasn't particularly stable. A few pebbles crumbled away underneath his feet, and the ground suddenly shifted. Before the child had a chance to reach, the floor underneath him fell, and he tumbled down through the air.

 


	6. Strange Enegry

"SOOOONIIIIIC!"

The younger Sonic didn't hesitate to act. As soon as he heard his little brother's scream, he took off full speed to where the yell originated. The older hedgehog followed, close on his tail. When little Sonic reached the edge of the cliff where Tails fell, he did the first thing that came to his mind.

And that was to jump after him.

He leapt down into the clouds, curling up into a ball so that he could fall faster. He quickly caught up to Tails, and he uncurled himself to slow himself down. He grabbed a hold of the screaming child as a thought crossed his mind.  _ 'What do I do now?' _

Back up on the surface of the island, the older hedgehog reached the edge too late to stop his past self from jumping. "Sonic! Tails!" he shouted over the edge. What was he supposed to do? Throw himself over the edge and hope for a miracle? There was no way they could survive that fall, and even if Tails tried to fly the both of them back up, there was very little chance of them actually making it.

All of a sudden, he heard the familiar  _ blingblingblingblingbling _ of someone grabbing rings at a breakneck pace.  _ 'It can't be...' _ he thought, his eyes going wide. He looked over the edge of the cliff to see his past self, carrying Tiny Tails, and  _ light-speed dashing _ up the trail of suspended rings. They rocketed up the cliffside, and even got a little bit of airtime as the trail of rings ran out. They landed safely on the ground, collapsing onto their backs and breathing heavily.

"Oh, Chaos, are you two okay?" the older Sonic breathed with relief.

"I... I think so," Lil' T said, still a little dazed from falling off a cliff and then soaring back up it.

"Just... frazzled, is all," the young hedgehog replied. His older self helped to two kids get to their feet. Little Sonic massaged his eyes with his thumb and index finger. "I have no idea how I even did that... that whole light-dash thing. I just sort of... did it."

"That's what I was just about to ask you about," the twenty-year-old ran his hand through his quills and shook his head. "Man, you shouldn't be able to do that yet.  _ Especially _ not without any kind of help… Still, good job for your first try! That was pretty lucky, I have to say."

"Sorry about that, you guys," Tails said meekly. "I got really scared and I kinda forgot that I could fly for a second."

"It's okay, Tails. You're safe," the younger Sonic said. "Just…  _ Please _ don't do that again!" he pleaded. Lil' T wrapped his arms around his brother's midsection.

"Promise!"

"No, you gotta  _ pinky promise _ ." the hedgehog said, completely serious. He held up his hand and extended his pinky finger.

"Okay, pinky promise," the young vulpine said, entwining his little finger with Sonic's. "It doesn't get much more official than that, does it?"

"No, it certainly doesn't," the older of the Sonics said, slapping both of the kids on the back. "Now, come on. What do you say we keep looking around this place, see what we can find?"

"Like what?" the younger inquired. "There's nothing here but frozen things and frozen people, and there's not much we can do about it."

"Maybe, maybe not. The older Tails said that he was picking up some weird energy readings around here. I don't know about you, but whenever I hear about weird energy readings coming from anywhere, I head straight towards them with reckless abandon."

"I swear, you must have a death wish," Little Sonic sighed, shaking his head. "But hey, we're here, we might as well, I suppose. Any idea as to what these energy readings look like?"

"Mmmmm none. But I figure it's either a Chaos Emerald or some sort of mysterious monster thing. Maybe both, if we get lucky!"

"Yup. Definite death wish."

"Hey, it'll be  _ your _ death wish in eight years' time. Don't knock it!" the adult hedgehog laughed. "I'll radio Tails, see if he has any words of wisdom for us. Maybe he'll have an explanation as to why you can suddenly light speed dash, too."

"You really think so?"

"No, but we can hope, can't we?" The dark blue hedgehog winked as he rolled down the cuff of his glove to reveal the communicator watch on his wrist. He pressed a button on the side of it, causing the screen to blink to life. A small telephone symbol blinked until Tails picked up on the other line. "Yo, Tails, you there?"

"Nope, sorry, no one here but us potatoes," the fox joked. "What's up?"

"We were wondering if you had any more leads for us? 'Cause, you know, no offense, but 'strange energy' isn't a heck of a lot to go off of."

"Um, all I can tell is that whatever it is should be on that island that you're on now. Is that the town?"

"Yep. It's like someone hit the pause button on this joint, even the people are frozen in place. It's pretty freaky."

"Yeah, that's what I suspected," Tails sighed. "Any idea how this happened? Is there any sort of clue lying around?"

"Negatory, good buddy," the older hedgehog answered. "I'll tell you something, though. Lil' me just light speed dashed."

"... What?"

"That's what  _ I _ said."

"But- but he shouldn't be able to do that for another few years, at least!"

"That's what  _ he _ said," exclaimed the smaller of the speedsters. "What's even going on? The stuff I'm doing now should be matching up with the stuff you've done in the past, right?" he asked, somewhat nervously. There was a pause.

"In theory, yes," Tails said. "I'll look into the matter. Hopefully I'll have an explanation when you guys get back, but I need some time to think about this."

"Okay, sounds good. Thanks, Tails," said the older Sonic. "Anything else you wanna add before we go?"

"Yeah. I would try not to spend  _ too _ much time in Windy Valley if I were you. If time there is frozen, I don't know what might happen to you guys. I don't want you guys to get frozen like that, too."

"Wait wait, that's a  _ thing _ that can  _ happen?! _ Why did no one tell me about this?" Mini-Sonic practically shouted.

"I never said that it's a thing that can happen! I'm just saying, you never know! It's not like any of us know what we're doing when it comes to time travel, anyway. Just be careful," said Tails.

"Yes mother," the elder Sonic said snarkily. "I'll let you know when we find that energy-whatsit."

"Good. Tails out," Tails said, hanging up. The older Sonic rolled the cuff on his glove back to the way he liked it.

"Well, where do we start looking?" he asked.

"Wouldn't it be faster if we all split up?" asked Tiny Tails innocently.

"Sorry kiddo, we're not about to let you run off on your own again. It's too risky. You go with lil' me, alright?"

"Yeah, but can we trust  _ you _ on your own?" Little Sonic joked.

"Hey, you're making fun of yourself again. Don't you just  _ love _ how that works?" the elder retorted.

"Don't forget, you  _ used _ to make fun of yourself!"

"... Man, I'm good. Anyways, Lil' T does have a point. Let's split up. If we can't find anything in a half hour, we meet up back here, at the fountain. Sound good?" the older Sonic asked. The other two nodded in confirmation. "Cool. I'll head back this way. If you get into any kind of trouble, just holler!" he said. He turned on his heel and started jogging back towards the entrance of the town. He was going to do a careful sweep from the bridge they entered on back towards the fountain. And the best way to do that was via the rooftops.

"I guess we're going this way then!" Tiny Tails said, dragging his brother in the opposite direction.

"I wish we knew what we were looking for..." the preteen huffed. It was one thing to go on a scavenger hunt through an eerily quiet town filled with people who weren't moving. It was another thing entirely to be doing all that, and to have no idea what it is that you’re supposed to find.

"Well, older big brother said we should look for a Chaos Emerald or a monster, right? We can find the monster if we hear monster noises nearby, so that means we can focus harder on finding the Emerald, because Chaos Emeralds don't make monster noises," Lil' T reasoned.

"Nice theory there, lil' bro," Sonic said, a little bit of worry lacing itself into his voice. "But what if the monster is sneaky? What then?"

"Then... one of us keeps watch while the other one looks! It doesn't always work on TV, but Knuckles says you shouldn't always trust what you see on TV, so I think we'll be okay."

"I hope you're right, buddy. I hope you're right." The two walked into an alleyway, getting off the main streets. It was unlikely for a Chaos Emerald to be out in the big streets, in plain sight. Those things always had to be hidden in the most annoying-to-reach spots. Namely, at the ends of long obstacle courses set up by nature. 

Mini-Sonic couldn't help but look up once they entered the alleyway. Tails had gotten him somewhat paranoid with all that monster talk. Now, he was convinced that something was going to drop down on him at any moment, and drag him away silently, leaving Tails all alone.  _ 'Enjoy your future, Sonic, they said. It's gonna be great, they said! Time freezing a whole geographic area like this doesn't sound like my definition of great.' _

Meanwhile, the older Sonic was perched high up on the bell tower of a church. The bells were still stuck in the air, about to swing, but no sound came from them. Sonic sighed. He never knew Windy Valley could ever get this  _ depressing. _

"I guess that's what happens when time stops," he said, looking around at the village from above. "Things just stop happening, and everything just becomes sad." He jumped down from the bell tower, having spotted nothing of interest. He jumped across a few rooftops, taking care to be quiet. He didn't care that the people living inside the houses couldn't hear him. He felt inconsiderate just clomping across their rooftops considering their current condition.

_'But besides that... Tails must have been right about what he said this morning. Little me and Lil' T are better at that video game than we were, and now mini-blue learns how to light speed dash? Things are happening too fast for them. Maybe something in the time stream got messed up with the whole Time Eater fiasco? That would certainly explain why Windy Valley had been paused. If things are happening too soon for the younger versions of Tails and I, are we going to start being affected by this, too? Will things start to slow_ down _for us?'_ The hedgehog sighed. He was thinking too hard about this. He never used to think about things this much- he would just _do._ _'Ugh, don't tell me I'm over-thinking things and not acting like myself because of all this timey-wimey stuff. Because if I am, then I am through with time travel forever. We fix this mess, and BOOM. I am off time travel for the rest of my days.'_

He ran up the side of a windmill and stood atop its roof. Maybe he could spot something out of the ordinary if he had a different vantage point? He peered out over the village, looking for anything that might cause a flux in energy that would set off Tails' sensors. Looking around, he didn't spot any weird god-monsters or anything. Good, he had had enough of beating up corrupt and evil god-monsters in his time. Eggman really needed to back away from that whole 'summoning powerful gods to do his dirty work' thing. It had gotten old after he did it the first time.

_ 'Speaking of which, where  _ is _ Eggman, anyway? I think we left him in that white limbo-world after we beat up the Time Eater... but that dude's persistent. He always manages to find a way to come back- wait a second, what is that?" _ Sonic thought as his eyes suddenly picked up on a faint, green glow.  _ 'Well, I think that might qualify as out of the ordinary,' _ he thought satisfactorily. He hopped down from his perch and took off sprinting towards the light. He had no desire to remain in Windy Valley any longer than he had to.

In the meantime, the time travelers' search was coming up dry. Little Sonic and Lil' T had found no signs of anything, except evidence that someone in Windy Valley had gotten very, very drunk the night before, as they made a mess of the side of the local bar by puking on the sidewalk next to it. For his little bro's well being, the hedgehog led him away from that area of town. Tails was still too young to learn about the horrors of drinking.

"Well, we've searched almost everywhere we can search," the preteen said, glancing around at his surroundings. "And there has been neither hide nor hair of a monster, and no evidence of a Chaos Emerald anywhere near here!"

Just as the words escaped his mouth, he could feel something tug at his heart. Some unseen force, foreign to most others, yet all too familiar to the hedgehog. That warm, pulsating, tugging feeling was the same way he felt whenever a Chaos Emerald was close by. Those were just the kind of feelings you get when you're adept at tapping into the Emerald's energies. They leave their mark on you.

"Tails, wait, hold up a sec," Sonic said, grabbing Tails by the shoulder so that he would stop. He closed his eyes and listened to his heartbeat, trying to feel where the gentle tug was pulling from. It was a Chaos Emerald close by, he was positive. "I can feel an Emerald near here, kiddo. I'm not sure where, exactly, but-"

"It wouldn't happen to be the source of all that bright, green light coming from over there, would it?" Tails asked, pointing a little ways down the street, wearing an all-knowing smile on his face.

"Bro, you are a life-saver. Come on!" the twelve-year-old hedgehog said excitedly. Maybe now they could get out of this creepy place.

The two raced up the street, turning down the side street that the mysterious glow was coming from. Sonic could feel the pulsating tug in his chest grow in power with each step he took. It didn't take much time for them to discover the gem, perched high atop an old windmill. All it took was a single nod from Sonic to have his young friend do his thing and fly up towards the top of the windmill. He carefully pried it out of its wedged-in location, and then flew it back down to Sonic.

The hedgehog accepted the Emerald from Tails, and held the green gem in his hands. He pressed it up to its chest to ensure it was the real deal. The Emerald itself seemed to thump in time with his heart, and he could feel the warmth and unbridled potential energy coursing through his veins. Oh yeah, this sucker was the real deal alright.

"Hey, Sonic? Do you hear something?" Tiny Tails asked, his ears pricking up as he listened for something in the distance. The hedgehog closed his eyes and concentrated, being able to faintly make out a noise coming from the other side of town.

"Do you think older-me ran into trouble?" he asked, tucking the Chaos Emerald into his spines. It would be safe there.

"The only way to find out is to check," Lil' T replied. The two friends instantly took off towards the other side of town, where the more grown-up incarnation of Sonic the Hedgehog was busy battling-- you guessed it-- a monster.

The beast was about five feet tall, a dark purple, and seemingly comprised of goo, scales, and smoke. There were little specks of gold dotting its flesh, and it had four arms which it swung about dangerously. These arms were large and powerful, and possessed sharp claws on the ends of their fingers. The legs of the creature were squat and not very powerful-looking, but it made up for this by having a strong tail which it could easily knock a person down with. Its mouth was huge, and took up most of its face. Its eyes were small and black, and it had a case of halitosis that you had to smell to believe.

Sonic jumped backwards, dodging a powerful swing of one of the monster's arms. "Man, why couldn't you have been a Chaos Emerald?!" he shouted in frustration. He had to draw this fight out into the open. Fighting in an alleyway wasn't his cup of tea, and the creature seemed to have the advantage. Even though it was large, it had plenty of walls to knock Sonic up against. And Sonic didn't enjoy getting slammed into the walls by mysterious beasts. The hedgehog turned, curled into a ball, and quickly spindashed out of the narrow side street and out to the main street. He stood up in the center of the street and motioned for the monster to 'come and get some.' The creature smiled a huge, toothy smile. It was more than happy to oblige. With a speed that Sonic didn't expect the monster to possess, the creature ran into Sonic and sent him careening into a building on the other end of the street. He impacted hard with the solid stone, creating a small dent in the wall. He groaned softly as he fell to his feet and had trouble standing up straight.

"I have to admit, I wasn't expecting you to be able to move like that. Congratulations, you hit me! It's not going to happen again, let me just tell you that now," the hedgehog said cockily. The monster seemed to take this as a personal challenge, and ran at Sonic at full speed again. The hedgehog simply jumped over him like he was playing a game of leapfrog. "You're too slow!" he taunted, sticking his tongue out at the beast and making a ridiculous face at it. The monster realized that his previous tactic of charging head-first towards his target wasn't working so well. He decided to switch up his attack pattern a little bit by punching the ground with its massive fists until the floor broke apart, and then picking up and throwing large chunks of rock and ground at Sonic. "Yipe!" the hedgehog yelped as a boulder flew right over his head.  _ 'This is tricky... With his four arms, it's going to be hard to get up close to him without turning into hamburger meat. And now, he's throwing projectiles at me too, to make me keep even  _ more _ distance. I need to end this fast before this fight gets out of hand,' _ he thought with a scowl. He ran circles around the beast at high speeds, searching for a possible weak spot. The only one he could maybe make work would be the back. He could sneak around and end the fight with a few good hits. He cracked his knuckles and stretched out his legs. This was going to be interesting.

Sonic spindashed into the ground, beginning to rapidly dig a tunnel. Now he just had to hope that the monster stayed in the same place so that he could land a hit without missing.

Unfortunately, the creature caught on to his plan pretty quickly, and moved aside. When Sonic burrowed next to him and leapt up out of the ground, the monster grabbed Sonic with its claws. The hedgehog suffered a gash across the chest from dealing with the beast, and began bleeding from his midsection.

The monster threw Sonic into a wall again- strange that most purple creatures with four arms seemed to be surprisingly lacking in the imagination department when it came to their attacks- and left another crack in the surface of the building. Sonic was starting to hurt now, and he was getting sick and tired of being thrown into things. He pried himself loose from the wall and shook the debris and pebbles from his quills.

_ 'Okay, this fight has gone on long enough,' _ he thought, feeling rather annoyed at this point. He clutched his chest in an attempt to stop his bleeding. The cut was deeper than he would have liked.  _ 'I need to finish this before I end up losing too much blood. What I need is some sort of strategy.' _ He scanned his environment, looking for something he could use against the creature. He grinned.  _ 'That'll work just fine.' _ He hadn't just found something- he had found some _ one _ .

The other Sonic and Tails were running in to his left. Perfect. All the wounded hedgehog had to do was provide a distraction, and they could get a few hits against the enraged creature.

"Yo, ugly! Try this on for size!" he shouted, tucking into a ball and revving himself up. He spin-dashed straight towards the monster's feet, only to get swatted away by one of its massive arms. Sonic flew back and tumbled across the ground, earning himself a few more scratches and bruises. The monster stalked closer to the fallen speedster. It was only a few feet away from Sonic when something blue and spiny collided with the side of its head. It toppled to the ground, his skull likely having been bashed in by the force of the impact.

"And stay down," the younger Sonic said, smiling over the beast triumphantly. He turned to face his older self, still on the ground, as Lil' T landed a few feet away. Little Sonic frowned when he saw the blood all over his older self's chest and hands. "I can't take you anywhere, can I?" he said, helping the injured hedgehog to his feet.

"Heh, what took you so long?" he asked, cringing. With the adrenaline of battle starting to fade, his wounds were starting to have more of an effect on him.

"Sorry. We were busy nabbing this bad boy." the younger Sonic reached into his quills and pulled out the bright green Chaos Emerald. "One down, six to go."

"Whoa. Nice work, you two!"

"Thanks. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I should be fine. Worst case scenario is that I need to get a few stitches to close this thing up," the darker blue hedgehog said, pointing to the gash in his chest. "I'm more concerned about what that  _ thing _ was." He held a hand on his midriff to slow the bleeding as he glanced over at the defeated creature. Lil' T walked over to it cautiously, being careful not to get too close to it.

"It looks a little bit like the Time Eater, don't you think? The colors are the same, and it looks like it's made of the same stuff," the vulpine pointed out.

"Something tells me this isn't just a crazy coincidence. We need to get back to the workshop," the older Sonic said. He climbed to his feet with a bit of difficulty.

"And just how are we going to go back to the workshop? You can barely stand, forget about running through loops and corkscrews," his younger incarnation protested, tapping his foot. "You'll bleed out before we get there."

Macro-Sonic sighed. The kid was right- he was okay for now, but he was afraid to run too much in fear of opening his chest wound even wider. If only they could just teleport back home…

"Wait. Give me the Emerald, I have an idea," he said, his eyes lighting up with inspiration. Little Sonic handed the gem over, curious as to what his older self was up to. "Okay kids, hold on tight. Keep all hands, feet, and tails inside the ride at all times, 'cause we're going home."

The young sonic and Tails looked at each other, shrugged, and grabbed a hold of the older hedgehog. Sonic focused on the Emerald in his hands, tapping into its powerful energy.

" _ Chaos... Control! _ " he shouted, and everything turned white.

 


	7. Rest and Relaxation?

The three suddenly found themselves outside the workshop, back in the Mystic Ruins. The oldest of the trio collapsed onto one knee and coughed.

"Okay, well that was fun," he said hoarsely.

"What the...? How did we get here?" Little Sonic asked, looking around in confusion. "We were just in Windy Valley a second ago!"

"It's called Chaos Control," the older hedgehog said, struggling to his feet. "If you figure out how to pull  _ that _ off before you're supposed to,  _ that _ would be something. Now, let's head inside before I bleed to death." He pushed the front door open with his shoulder and dragged his feet inside.

"Older me, we're back!" Tiny Tails shouted into the nearly-empty house. The older fox was likely located in his lab in the basement. Sonic started towards the basement door when he was stopped by his past-self.

"Oh no you don't. You are going to sit down,  _ I  _ am going to go get the older Tails, and we will bandage you up. I'm not about to let you fall down the stairs for no reason, you hear?" He turned the injured twenty-year-old around and sat him down in one of the armchairs in the living room.

"Look, all I'm going to do is bleed all over the chair! Besides, I think I should be able to go down some stairs without dying," the adult protested, trying to get up. Mini-Sonic groaned in frustration.

"Ugh, you're even more impatient than I am! Just sit still for  _ five seconds. _ Can you do that? Just  _ sit. _ " He held his hands up and backed away slowly, ready to push the battle-scarred hedgehog back into the chair if he tried to stand up again. Without taking his eyes off of his future-self, he said, "Tails, stay here with him. I'm going to go get the other Tails." He pointed at his own eyes, and the to the eyes of his older self, as if to say,  _ I'm watching you. _ He then walked out of the room and ran down the basement steps.

The underground lab was large, to say the least. The place was cluttered with various pieces of equipment and machinery. The air was filled with a number of beeping and whirring noises. The young hedgehog found Tails seated in a swiveling office chair in front of a large, powerful-looking computer.

"Whoa. Rad setup," Sonic breathed. He shook his head, trying to focus on the task at hand. "Yo, Tails! We've got a situation!"

Tails turned around to face him, a surprised look on his face. "Oh, you're back already? That was quick."

"Yeah, now come on! Older-me is hurt." Sonic motioned with his hands for the fox to get up and follow him. Tails stood up with a frown.

"I'll go grab the first-aid stuff," he said. He sighed slightly, as Sonic hurting himself was nothing new. "What is it, a sprained ankle?"

"Try a big ol' gash across his chest," the hedgehog said as Tails rummaged around his lab for the medical supplies. The fox always made sure to keep some on hand, just in case. He opened up a cabinet stocked with bandages and various medications. He fished out some cloth bandages, cotton, and disinfectant.

"Okay, let's go survey the damage," Tails said, leading the way back up the stairs.

Upon entering the living room, the older Tails and younger Sonic both rolled their eyes. Lil' T was sitting on the older hedgehog's lap, struggling to keep him still. The twenty-year-old just could not stop fidgeting, even with a hole in his chest.

"Alright, alright, that's enough, you two! Honestly…" the teenage fox said, lifting his younger persona up off of Sonic's lap and setting the tot down on the ground. He took a look at his older brother's wound and furrowed his brow.

"I thought it would bleeding more. That's a pretty big cut," he said, inspecting Sonic's chest. The hedgehog shrugged.

"It was bleeding like crazy before. I dunno why it stopped all of a sudden." He ran his finger along the edge of the cut. It might have stopped bleeding, but it still hurt like mad. The blood that was still on his chest stained his already reddened gloves. He frowned. He was probably going to have to throw the gloves away- there was no saving them now.

"We're going to have to have that stitched up," Tails said, bringing Sonic back to reality. "Even if it's not gushing blood anymore, I need to make sure it closes up correctly."

Sonic nodded. "Good point. Man, this is probably going to leave a heck of a scar…"

Tails looked down at the two or three cotton balls in his hand. He didn't expect the gash to be this bad, or that Sonic would have so much blood on him. This was going to be a heck of a project, for sure. "I can clean you up faster downstairs, in the lab," the fox said with his hands at his hips. "Can you stand up?"

"Psh, no problem!" Sonic said with a smile that said,  _ look who you're talking to, kid. _ He leaned forward to get out of the chair, and a harsh, searing pain shot through his chest. He fought the instinct to cry out, instead gritting his teeth and scooting gently forward until he was sitting on the edge of the chair. He eased himself onto his feet from there, his legs shaking. "See? No problem!"

His legs suddenly gave out and collapsed underneath him. He would have fallen to the floor if his past-self and Tails hadn't been there to catch him. "You were saying?" his younger self said, raising an eyeridge.

"Oh, shut up," the older hedgehog coughed. "Man, I haven't gotten this hurt in a while, huh?" Tails hooked his arm around his brother and helped get him to his feet.

"Yeah, I guess it has been a while. C'mon, I'll help you," the vulpine said. Sonic nodded and the two began to walk. Staying true to his stubborn nature, Sonic tried as hard as he could to not rely too much on Tails' assistance.

"Older me?" Lil' T piped up. "S'there anything Sonic and I can do to help?"

The older Tails thought for a second, trying to come up with something for the kids to do without getting in the way.

"How about you make some lunch?" the injured hedgehog suggested. "I'm starved."

As if on cue, Lil' T's stomach growled. "Good idea," he said, rubbing his hand on his gut. A cheeky smile graced his face. "Sonic? I want mac and cheese."

"Oh, that sounds good. I want some too," the older fox said, licking his lips. "I haven't eaten since breakfast... I got too distracted in the lab!"

"Oh my gosh, yes. I think we have mac and cheese in the cupboard next to the sink," the older Sonic said. "You think you can handle it, kiddo?"

"You bet I can! I'm gonna make the bestest lunch ever!" he said, getting excited. He jumped into the air and flew off into the kitchen, with the younger incarnation of Sonic following close behind.

"Tails, you're not old enough to work a stove on your own, are you crazy...!" he called after his little brother. The older two siblings couldn't help but laugh.

"You sure that was a good idea, letting them loose in the kitchen like that?" the older fox whispered. Sonic half-shrugged.

"Whatever keeps them busy. Besides, past-me can handle it. I trust him. Now c'mon, let's go downstairs before gravity drags me there."

Working together, the two slowly but surely got down the stairs and entered the lab in the basement. Tails quickly got to work, clearing off a table for Sonic to lie down on. The hedgehog eased himself onto it, trying not to move his torso around too much. He didn't want to risk starting to bleed again.

Tails pulled a couple of towels out of the first aid cabinet and wet them in the small sink in the corner. "I'm going to have to clean up some of that blood before I can even start to look at that cut, never mind check and see if you bruised any ribs," he said, wringing out some of the excess water from the towels. He took the damp cloths over to Sonic, who had finally settled.

"Go for it," the blue one said with a nod. Tails proceeded to press one of the towels against Sonic's chest, causing the hedgehog to cringe.

"So, how did this happen anyway? I thought everything in Windy Valley was frozen in time," Tails asked.

"Yeah, well, but not  _ everything _ was standing still. There was this weird creature thing- it was big, had four arms, and it looked kind of like the Time Eater- and we got into a bit of a scuffle," he said, trying not to wince at Tails' pokes and prods.

"Are you serious?" Tails asked, surprised. "Do you think this whole time travel mess is because of the Time Eater? That maybe it's still around?"

"I'm not really sure. All I know is, that thing wasn't your typical underworld henchman. It was pretty tough. I kept getting knocked into walls and thrown into the dirt. It was so embarrassing," he chuckled. "Ow! Tails, will you stop jabbing me already?"

"I'm barely touching you, Sonic! You must have bruised some ribs from all those times you got tossed into buildings," Tails said sarcastically.

"Oh, can it," Sonic smiled. "When did you get so sarcastic?"

"Not sure. Makes sense though, I mean, look who raised me."

"Please, I didn't raise you. I was just a kid myself when I found you. If anything, we probably raised each other."

"I guess you have a point. I- whoa, that's weird."

"Wait, what's weird?" Sonic craned his neck up so he could look at his chest.

"Look at this," Tails pointed to the cut. "It's not an open wound anymore. It's already scarred up."

"What?"

"Here, check it out for yourself," Tails said. Sonic eased himself up until he was looking down at his torso. There was indeed a large scar running across his chest and stomach- as if it had healed up a long time ago. He ran a finger across it. It was hot; not hot enough so that it burned, but it was definitely warmer than the rest of him. He frowned.

"How'd this thing heal up so fast? It was bleeding out of control back in Windy Valley," he said, sitting up. He gritted his teeth as he did so. It sure didn't  _ feel _ like his cut had closed up.

"I'm not sure," Tails said. "The only thing I can think of that could do this would be a Chaos Emerald."

"Huh… You don't say," Sonic said, pulling the green gem out from his quills. "How do you think we got back here so fast, eh?"

"Whoa, neat," Tails said, admiring the jewel. "I guess you must have healed yourself by accident when you used Chaos Control."

"Guess so." The hedgehog tossed the Emerald in the air and caught it again. He stared at it, trying to see inside its chaos-filled depths. "Something about this still seems off, though. I've never been able to use the Emeralds to heal myself before."

"Well, the younger-you never used the light-speed dash before, and he did  _ that _ for the first time today." Tails took the now-crimson towels to the sink to rinse all of the blood out of them. Sonic nodded, putting the Emerald away and taking his gloves off. The dried blood on them crackled as he did so.

"Speaking of that, what do you think happened? He shouldn't have been able to use the light-speed dash yet."

"And he did it all on his own?" Tails asked, wringing out one of the towels. It was still a little pink, but that was as good as it was going to get. He moved on to the next towel. "Didn't you need upgrades to your sneakers to be able to light speed dash at first?"

"Yeah, I needed help, but he just did it all by himself. Maybe it was because Lil' T was in danger because he fell off this cliff, and lil' Me's instincts were kicked into high gear, but... he shouldn't have been able to pull it off. I'm super glad that he did, of course, but that's not the point. The point is that  _ he _ did it before  _ I  _ did. Isn't there a rule against that? What's it called, a parabox?"

"You mean paradox?"

"Yeah, that's it, paradox. Yeah. Our timelines aren't matching up, and I don't like that. It's concerning, to say the least."

"Agreed. Your past should sync up with his future. I don't know how this happened, but it's a lot like when they were playing video games yesterday. Remember, they got farther than we were able to back then?"

"Mmhmm, I remember. Do you think that these paradoxes are what caused the whole fiasco with Windy Valley? Or are they an effect of something else?" Sonic said thoughtfully.

"I'm not entirely sure, but that is an  _ excellent _ question. Unusually insightful for you," Tails said, a little bit surprised that Sonic had come up with that.

"I have my moments," the hedgehog said, looking down nonchalantly at his fingernails, inspecting them.

"I know you do," Tails smiled. "Anyway, now that I know that the Time Eater has something to do with this, I might be able to make some headway in figuring this whole mess out. You did say that the creature you fought looked like the Time Eater, right?"

"Well, it was pretty big, dark purple with bits of gold in it, really angry, and it looked like it was made out of the same general stuff. Like... like its body was made of solid smoke or something. So yeah, I'd say it was pretty similar to the Time Eater. How will that help, though?"

"I have the Time Eater's energy signature copied onto my Miles Electric from when we fought him yesterday. With this data, I can run a search for him all over Mobius. That'll let me see if he's back somehow, or if there are just little mini versions of him running around, or what. It also might let me get a closer look at how its time manipulation powers work. I was meaning to look into that just out of curiosity, actually," Tails said, scratching the back of his head.

"Hey!" Little Sonic said, popping his head into the lab. "Where do you guys keep the butter?"

"Fridge door, top shelf," Tails answered.

"Thanks!" the young hedgehog said, disappearing back into the kitchen again.

"Welcome!" Tails shouted. He turned back to his older brother. "Anyways, we should probably have your chest wrapped up. Don't wanna scare the younger-me with your 'ultra manly battle scars.'" He put finger quotes around that last bit.

"I swear, you are having too much fun with this," Sonic laughed gently, as to not hurt himself further. "Speaking of the kids, though, I wonder how they're doing up there?"

"Alright, we  _ finally _ found everything we need." The younger Sonic sighed and leaned against the fridge. "Man, I'm already tired."

"But Soooniiic," Lil' T said, "you  _ can't _ be tired yet 'cause we haven't  _ done _ anything!"

"Maybe you've forgotten the whole Windy Valley thing only happened, what, ten minutes ago?" He sighed and rubbed his eyes. "What do the instructions on the box say?"

"Ummm," the young fox said, turning the box of macaroni over in his hands until he found the directions. "It says we gotta fill a pot three-quarters full of water and boil it."

"Shouldn't be too hard," Sonic said, bringing the pot he and Tails had picked out over to the sink. All he had to do was fill it with water and take it over to the stove. How hard could it be?

Apparently, very hard. The hedgehog had underestimated the weight of the water, and had a hard time even getting the pot out of the sink. In the process of bringing it to the stove, he spilled most of the water onto the floor. "Son of a…" he breathed, looking back at the virtual lake he had left in the middle of the kitchen floor. He reached for the roll of paper towels on the counter. "Tails, I'll clean this mess up, you turn on the stove so the water'll boil."

"Right!" the child nodded, twisting the knob and turning the burner on. Miraculously, the water that was still in the pot began to heat up without incident, but it wasn't long before the fox grew impatient.

"Sonic, how can you tell if the water's boiling?"

"It's boiling when the top gets really bubbly, and you can see steam coming from it," Sonic replied, still cleaning the water up. "While that's going, d'you think you could measure out the milk and butter? We'll have to do that eventually."

The child nodded, grabbing a butter knife and opening up a fresh stick of butter. He looked at the box of macaroni. The directions said 3 tablespoons, but… he didn't have a spoon with him. He couldn't remember where they were, and he didn't want to bother Sonic anymore. So he had to guess how much butter was the right amount. It couldn't make that much of a difference, really. The measuring cup was easy to use, though, so could figure out how much milk to pour in, no problem. The problem was getting all the milk  _ in _ the cup.

"Tails! Really? I just finished cleaning up!" Sonic moaned, reaching for more paper towels.

"I'm real sorry, Sonic. I didn't mean it, honest- oh, the water's boiling!" Lil' T said. In all honesty, the water was just starting to bubble- it was no where near a full boil.

"Alright, put the macaroni in. I'll clean up all this milk," the hedgehog sighed, beginning to wipe up the mess. Tails picked up the mac and cheese box and dumped its contents into the pot- including the packet of cheese powder. Oops. Oh well, it had to go in the water at some point, didn't it? And besides, it was too hot to pull out now.

"There. Now we just need to wait for the macaroni to cook, I think," Sonic said, cleaning up the rest of the milk. He picked up the armful of soaked paper towels he had used in the past few minutes and heaved them into the garbage. "That's it, next time we're making sandwiches."

"How do we know when it's done cooking?"

"I dunno, when it's done! You're asking me like I'm the pasta king or something." Sonic stood up and cracked his back. Tails glanced into the pot.

"S'it done now?"

"No."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's only been 45 seconds, Tails. This stuff takes a little bit to cook. Like, ten minutes or so."

"But Sooooniiiic, I want to eat it now! I'm hungry!"

Sonic held his face in his hands. And Knuckles thought  _ he _ was impatient. If only the echidna were here looking after his older self and Tails… He sighed. "I'm gonna go lie down on the couch. You can handle watching the pot, can't you, squirt?"

"You betcha!" Lil' T said with a smile. The hedgehog gave him a tired thumbs up before walking into the living room and collapsing onto the couch. Making sure his big bro wasn't paying attention, Tails looked into the pot. There was barely enough water to coat all of the macaroni, and the liquid was still hardly bubbling. He couldn't see the packet of cheese; it must have sank to the bottom. He sure hoped it would turn out okay.

Five minutes later, Sonic was up off the couch and waving a towel above the pot, trying to dissipate the smoke so the smoke alarm would shut off. What little water had been in the pot had evaporated, leaving everything else to just cook in the heat of the burner. The packet of cheese and the uncooked macaroni had started to smolder, producing quite a bit of smoke. The whole floor started to smell like burnt cheese.

"You had one job, Tails," the hedgehog said, fanning the smoke away from the detector mounted on the ceiling. " _ One. Job. _ "

"How many times to I have to say I'm sorry?!" the kit exclaimed, using his twin namesakes as a fan. Two sets of footsteps could be heard ascending the basement stairs, the older incarnations of the two kids having heard the smoke alarm loud and clear. The older Tails entered the kitchen first.

He immediately sprung into action, turning off the stove and helping to de-smoke the room. With the three of them working together, the kitchen was quickly smoke-free. It still smelled a lot like burnt food, though.

"Eugh! Maybe leaving you two in charge of lunch wasn't the best idea after all," the elder Sonic said as he hobbled into the room, waving a hand in front of his nose to get the stench away from his face. He joined the others as they all looked disdainfully into the pot of would-be mac and cheese. The macaroni was all burnt, and there was a shriveled up, charred packet of what was probably the cheese dust, seeing as there were flecks of orange all throughout the pot and the rest of the kitchen.

"Well, I think we all learned a very important lesson here today," Lil' T said in a small voice.

"That repairing a plane and cooking are two different things entirely?" his older self questioned.

"Precisely."

"What do we do now?" the twelve-year-old hedgehog asked, scraping a gloved finger along the inside of the pot. "We sure as heck can't eat this."

The older Sonic stepped away from the stove and opened up the fridge. He pulled out some ham and cheese, and then reached above the fridge for a box of crackers. He set all this down on the kitchen table and took a seat. "Lunch is served," he said, opening up the box of crackers. The other three shrugged and sat down without comment.

As if on cue, Tails then picked up the television remote that was lying on the far end of the table and turned on the TV in the living room. There was some cheesy sci-fi movie on, which looked like it was about a giant crocodile fighting a half-shark half-octopus. They all stared at it for a minute and shrugged. It couldn't be  _ that _ bad, could it?

An hour later, they decided it was the corniest train wreck any of them had ever seen before in their lives.

"Okay guys, place your bets," the oldest in the room said, stuffing more ham-cheese-and-cracker sandwich into his mouth. "Sharktopus or Crocosaurus?"

"Sharktopus, all the way," his younger self said. "The thing's got the biting power of a shark, plus tentacles, plus spikes! It wins, hands-down."

"But Crocosaurus is a giant lizard!" Lil' T argued. "It has big teeth, and a tail that it can whack stuff with, and-"

"-and stubby little arms that won't be of any help to it when the horrible CGI that is Sharktopus wraps him up in his tentacley grip!" the older Sonic laughed. The two hedgehogs started chanting, "Sharktopus, Sharktopus, Sharktopus!"

"Yeah, yeah, wait, hold up," the elder of the two Tailses said, interrupting their cheer. "Everyone knows that the  _ scientists _ win in the end, because Sharktopus and Crocosaurus are just going to blow each other up in some horribly cheesy fashion."

"He makes a good point, you know," Sonic said, looking back towards his younger self. They shared a knowing look and both smiled.

"Sharktopus! Sharktopus! Sharktopus!" the chanted even louder, this time with Tiny Tails joining in. On-screen, the shark/octopus hybrid just impaled a tourist with its tentacle, and then man screamed and waved his arms in the goofiest way imaginable. Everyone in the workshop cheered.

"Wow, we are horrible, horrible people," Tails commented with a laugh.

"I cannot possibly side with these scientist morons!" Mini-Sonic exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "I honestly do not care about any of their problems. I'm just watching to see their humorous, over-dramatic deaths,"

"Speaking of which," the older Sonic said, turning to face the young fox kit seated at the other end of the table. "Lil' T, you probably shouldn't even be watching this. You're six, for crying out loud."

"This movie isn't even scary, though!" the young child protested. "It's all so silly and fake-looking. The blood looks like Kool-Aid. Look- seriously, look at that! That is seriously just ketchup smeared all over that guy's face!" he shouted, pointing at the screen.

Just then, Sharktopus strangled Crocosaurus with its tentacles and bit its head off. More cheering from the peanut gallery ensued.

That night, Tails insisted that Sonic sleep in his own bed, saying that he would take the couch for the time being. The twenty-year-old knew it would be useless to argue, and he was too tired to have a fight about where he would sleep anyways. So instead, he helped Tails with their couch's pull-out bed function, and then trudged upstairs with his younger self and Lil' T.

"Alright, here's where you guys are going to sleep," he said, leading them into Tails' bedroom. The older Sonic was still extremely sore around his middle, but he had already recovered enough so that he could walk again without any real difficulty.

Tails' room contained the bunk bed which had been assembled the day before. The room was filled with books and model planes, and there were various blueprints scattered around the floor. One of the walls had pictures of the fox and his friends throughout the years. All in all, it looked like one would expect Tails' bedroom to look like.

"This is  _ my room?" _ Tiny Tails asked, flying around the room with a look of wonder in his eyes.

"Calm down kiddo," the older hedgehog said, plucking the kid out of the air. "Don't want you to get all riled up before bedtime."

"I don't have a bedtime," the fox pouted. "Right, Sonic?" he said, glancing down at the smaller of the two hedgehogs.

"You nap so much during the day anyway, there's really not much point to you going to bed at a certain time every night," he shrugged. He hopped up to the top bunk and bounced a little bit as he landed on the bed.

"Hey, no fair! I wanted the top bunk!" Lil' T whined.

"Sorry there squirt, I called it yesterday. Remember? When we were playing video games?"

"No way, you didn't call nothin'!" the young fox pouted.

"Well," the adult Sonic said over-dramatically, "if no one wants to sleep in the bottom bunk, I guess we set it up for nothing." He huffed and sagged his shoulders.

Tiny Tails sighed. "Well, fine, when you put it that way..."

"No! No, I understand. We'll just uninstall the bottom bed again..."

"I said I would sleep in the bottom bunk! Gosh," Lil' T groaned. He looked up at the blue figure already sitting in the top bunk. "Sonic, you grow up to be such a drama queen."

"Hey, it worked though, didn't it?" the older one said, scooping the child up in his arms and depositing him on the bed. He tucked the toddler in to make sure he was comfy. "Wow, haven't tucked anyone in in years," he chuckled, being hit with waves of nostalgia.

"Older big brother?" the fox piped up.

"Hm?"

"Can you read me a bedtime story?" Tails asked, eyes sparkling.

"I don't think we have many storybooks around here, bucko," Sonic said, rubbing the kid's head.

"Make up a story, then! Pleeeeaaaassseeee?" he asked, making the most adorable puppy-dog face Sonic had seen in years. The hedgehog sighed and massaged his closed eyes.

"Fine, you adorable little pain in the butt, you. I'll tell you a story," he said, sitting down at the foot of the bed. "Lil' me, any suggestions?"

"Don't care," the preteen mumbled.

"Thanks for the help there, kid." Sonic wracked his mind for a story to tell. He never was good at making up stories. He was going to have to tell one that he already knew. A light went on in his head, and he smiled.

"How about I tell you about King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table?"

Twenty minutes later, Sonic had gotten halfway through his story, and Lil' T was fast asleep. Even Sonic's younger persona had dozed off with a smile on his face. The older hedgehog yawned. He should get himself to bed, too. He eased himself up off the foot of the bed, careful to not bend his torso too much. He shut off the lights in the kids' room and shut the door behind him as he left. He walked across the hall to his own room, not bothering to turn on the light once he got inside. He slipped his trademark red sneakers off his feet and kicked them into the corner. He padded across the room in his socks and laid himself down on his bed. He was asleep before he even got under the covers.

 


	8. Christmas in June

Sonic woke up the next morning shivering. He instinctively dove under his sheets, pulling them up over his head, and curled up as best he could with his bandaged up chest.  _ 'Man, why is it so cold? It's practically the end of June!' _ he thought in frustration. He rubbed his hands over his arms rapidly, trying to warm himself up. He could feel the goosebumps crawling over his skin as he did so. He was going to have to get up and turn on the heat so that everyone in the house wouldn't freeze. He reluctantly crawled out of bed, quickly found a pair of gloves lying on the floor, and shoved them onto his cold hands. He went out into the hall and fiddled around with the thermostat, turning the temperature up. It had already been set at 68 degrees, so why was it so cold?

It would take a little while for the heat to kick in, so for the moment, Sonic was still chilly. He went back into his bedroom and grabbed a blanket off the foot of his bed. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, he felt a little bit better.

He thought he heard some hushed, yet excited conversation coming from inside Tails' bedroom.  _ 'I wonder what Lil' Blue and Lil' T are so happy about?' _

He knocked on the door to their bedroom, which was promptly answered by his younger self. "What's going on in here?" the elder asked, poking his head inside the room with a grin.

"Did you look out a window this morning?"

"Um... No?"

"Then come look!" Lil' T said, grabbing the older hedgehog's hand and dragging him towards the window. What Sonic saw made his jaw drop.

"No way... It's... It's…"

"It's  _ snowing! _ " the young fox squealed with excitement. Indeed, the air outside was filled with swirling bits of white. The trees, not having shed their leaves, were just huge masses of snow supported by tree trunks. It must have been snowing for quite some time, as the snow on the ground looked to be at least six inches deep already, maybe more.

"Well, that explains why it's so cold," Sonic said quietly. His breath condensed on the glass of the window, fogging it up.

"Isn't it cool?" Lil' T said, pressing his hands up against the window and looking outward at the winter wonderland.

Sonic wasn't quite sure how to respond. The responsible older-brother part of him was saying no, that those tree branches wouldn't be able to hold the weight of all that snow for long, they wouldn't be able to clear away any of the snow because Tails didn't keep any shovels around the workshop, that there wasn't much food in the house to begin with, and now there were four mouths that needed feeding and no way to get to the grocery store.

The thrill-seeking part of him, on the other hand, was saying that this was awesome! What better way to relax after a day of Emerald hunting than to go sledding and snowboarding and to curl up by the fire with a hot drink in your hand? He could do without the cold, of course, but the snow definitely had its perks, too.

"Cool or not, I think this confirms that the flow of time is getting seriously messed up," he said.

"Oh, absolutely," his younger self agreed. "As much as I enjoy a good snow day from time to time, this is pretty bad. I mean, it's the middle of summer! It should  _ not _ be snowing."

"It's like... It's almost like the universe thinks its winter or something. That's why it's suddenly freezing outside."

"Mmm. I can't help but feel like this is somehow our fault," the adolescent hedgehog said, scratching the back of his neck. "Like, by us being here, in the wrong time period, the flow of time is getting all out of whack."

"Don't be so hard on yourself. I doubt all of this is your fault. And if it is, so what? You didn't mean to launch Mystic Ruins into the second Ice Age or anything."

"Even if Tails and I didn't mean for this to happen, it still happened because of us," the twelve-year-old said, looking down at the ground. "And now Windy Valley is frozen still, it's snowing outside, you're hurt, and-"

"Look," the older Sonic said, placing a hand on the younger's shoulder.  _ His _ shoulder. "We're going to fix this. I promise, we're going to get you guys back to your own time period, and I bet all this will go back to normal. Actually, no. I guarantee it. Everything will be okay."

"Man, I hope so," the kid sighed.

Tails, who hadn't been paying attention to the conversation, hopped over to the smaller hedgehog. "Hey, can we go sledding later?"

"Sure, pal. But we have to help out older me and the other Tails first, okay? We still have more Chaos Emeralds to find, after all." he said, patting the child on the back.

"Right!" Lil' T said enthusiastically. He nodded and went back to looking out the window. Mystic Ruins was filled with big hills to go sledding on, at it looked like the lake had frozen over. Maybe he could convince the Sonics to go ice skating with him? After all, it wasn't water. Well, at least, it wasn't liquid water. He entertained himself with the mental image of his brother- past and future versions- slipping and sliding around on the ice.

"I'm going to go see if my Tails is awake yet. Do you know what time it is?" the older Sonic asked.

"Not sure. Early, though," replied his younger self.

"Cool. Catch ya later," Sonic said, leaving the room and closing the door behind him. He couldn't believe it. It was actually snowing in June. While the fun-loving dare devil in him loved the idea of just goofing off and playing in the snow all day, the grown-up in him realized that this much snow this suddenly was going to cause some problems- not just for the residents of the workshop, but for the other people living in Mystic Ruins as well.

It rarely snowed in the mountainous region; after all, a short ride in a mine car through one of the mountains, and you were in a tropical jungle. The train line to Station Square would likely be closed, shutting a lot of people out from the resources in the city. There were some shops in the Ruins, of course, but most of the groceries were delivered there from the city. Sonic wondered if it was snowing in other places, too. What about Windy Valley? Would the people outside there, suspended in their summer clothes, freeze to death? Or was it unaffected due to the clocks being stopped there? Maybe Tails' computer could tell him what was going on elsewhere.

_ 'Man, I  _ really _ wish I didn't hurt myself yesterday,' _ he groaned inwardly.  _ 'Normally, I could clear snow with a quick spin-dash. But now, I don't know if I can curl in enough to pull it off.' _ He rubbed his chest where he got slashed. The scar was still giving off heat, even though the Chaos Emerald had healed it up more than twelve hours ago. Shouldn't it have cooled off by now?

Sonic decided to ignore his mysterious injury for the time being, instead choosing to focus on the strange weather. He went down the stairs, lifting up the blanket that was draped over him so that he wouldn't accidentally trip on it. He reached the ground floor of the workshop and shuddered. It was even colder down here. He pulled his blanket up closer to his face, wrapping himself more tightly in the fabric. He could deal with the cold when he was running or snowboarding or something, but otherwise, he wasn't a huge fan of it.

The hedgehog found Tails sitting at the kitchen table, typing away on his handheld, the Miles Electric, and drinking something warm. Was that coffee? Since when did Tails drink coffee?

"Morning," Sonic said, sitting across from his friend. Tails took a sip of his drink and looked up.

"Oh, hey. You're up early," he said.

"I was cold," the speedster shrugged. "What about you? You're usually not awake at-" he glanced at the clock, "-seven in the morning. Wow, seven? Yeesh."

"Haha, yeah, it's pretty early for us. I heard one of the palm trees on the side of the runway break, so that woke me up," Tails explained. "When I saw all the snow, I couldn't just go back to bed. So I started doing more research."

"Research on what?"

"Well, first of all, why and where it was snowing. None of the weather stations can tell why it's so cold out all of a sudden, so this snow is most definitely not natural. It looks like this storm has been confined to just Mystic Ruins and Station Square. I checked the satellites, Windy Valley is still as warm as it was a few days ago. The people there will be okay."

"Phew! I was worried about that," Sonic said, exhaling in relief.

"I thought you would be. Anyways, I haven't heard anything about people's power going out here in the Ruins, but we'll have to wait and see. There are sections of Station Square that are without power, though. Fallen trees took down the power lines."

"Wow, that stinks. We have a backup generator, right?"

"We have several. We should be fine."

"Excellent. Anything else you were able to dig up?"

"Actually, I was researching the whole 'Time Eater' thing, and scanning a bunch of satellite feeds for a trace of its energy signature. I got hits here, Windy Valley, and more recently, Station Square. So, while the Time Eater itself isn't around, its influence still is. And it looks like its spreading."

"What do you mean, its influence?"

"I mean, time is getting screwed up in certain areas. And the number of places affected by this is growing. It's almost like... Like there's a rip in the time stream or something, and it’s getting deeper."

"A  _ rip in the time stream?" _ Sonic said slowly. "That sounds serious."

"No kidding. I think it started when Eggman first unleashed that monster at your party the other day. The very act of ripping everyone out of the timeline caused a small tear. Even after we defeated the Time Eater and all came home, that tear was steadily growing. It might even be why our younger selves' portal closed before they could reach it. Time around the portal was flowing faster for a little bit, causing it to close faster than it would have normally."

"So..." said the younger Sonic, who suddenly appeared at the door to the living room. "Everything that's happening isn't specifically because me and Tails are here?" He had a somewhat nervous look on his face. "Sorry, I couldn't help eavesdropping."

"Eh, don't be. It's not like we're sharing secrets in here or anything," the older hedgehog said. He pulled out a chair for his younger self.

"To answer your question, no," Tails said, taking a swig of his coffee. "This isn't your fault. I can't believe you thought it was."

"Well, when you're stranded in the future and time is falling apart all around you, yeah, those thoughts start to go through your head," he said with a small, but relieved smile. He sat down next to his older self. "Glad to know this mess isn't our fault, though."

"See? What did I  _ just _ tell you? Not your fault." The twenty-year-old smiled triumphantly and rustled the short fur on his younger self's head.

"Yes, yes, you were right all along," he smiled, swatting the other Sonic's hand away. "Still, that doesn't explain why I was able to do that whole light-speed dash trick yesterday."

"Oh yeah, that's right!" The older hedgehog said. "It doesn't explain the Blasteroids thing, either."

"The Blasteroids thing? Why, what's up with Blasteroids?"

"Tails and I weren't able to get passed the Level 10 boss when we were your age. We were stuck there for a while."

"Wow, really? How long did it take you?" the smaller hedgehog asked, suppressing a laugh.

Sonic crossed his arms and pouted. "None of your business! The point is, you and Lil' T are little walking paradoxes."

Tails sighed and scratched his head, glancing back down at his Miles Electric. "Sorry, I'm still working on figuring that part out. Paradoxes aren't even supposed to  _ happen _ , so it's slow going trying to figure this out."

"Hey, don't worry about it, bro! Now we at least know why all this stuff is happening," the older Sonic said, leaning back in his chair. He cringed a little as his bruised ribs got pressed against the back of the wooden chair. He stood up and stretched his arms. "I think I'm gonna go check on my ultra-manly battle scars. I'll be right back." He stalked off towards the bathroom, running his hand through his quills.

There was a moment of silence in the kitchen after he left. The younger Sonic and the older Tails were similar in age, so conversation between them should have come easily. The little hedgehog twiddled his thumbs as Tails took a sip of coffee before turning back to his handheld.

"Since when do you drink coffee? Older-me doesn't drink coffee," Sonic noted. Tails shrugged.

"I dunno. Sometimes I'll stay up working later than I should, so I need to drink some every once in a while to keep myself up. After I woke up this morning, I started to do some serious thinking. Hence the coffee," he said, holding up the mug.

"Ah," the young hedgehog said. "Thinking about anything interesting?"

Tails set his mug and his Miles Electric down on the table and rested his head in one of his hands. "Mostly just the stuff I told the older-you about. You know, with the fabric of time having a rip in it, so to speak. Also, who would win in a fight, Eggman or Sharktopus."

Sonic laughed at that. He was just trying to picture Robotnik in one of his many machines, trying to fight a giant shark/octopus hybrid covered in spikes. "I'm not sure! I guess it would depend on what kind of robot the Doc was using to fight it," he reasoned. "Some of his easier-to-bust-up machines wouldn't stand a chance, but the robot he used during our fight in the Death Egg? That would kick Sharktopus' sorry behind." His roundish stomach suddenly growled. "Whoops. Uh, you guys got any cereal in this joint?"

"In the cabinet above the fridge. You know where the bowls and spoons are, right?"

"Yeah, I got it. You want any?" Sonic asked, pulling a chair up to the fridge so he could reach the boxes of cereal.

"No thanks, I'm good," Tails said politely. The young hedgehog rifled through the cabinet before pulling out a chocolaty, sugar-filled cereal. "Hey, where's little-me?" the fox asked.

Sonic climbed down from the chair, pushed it back where it belonged, and opened up the fridge door. "He's upstairs, went back to sleep. He doesn't like waking up early."

"Neither do you."

"Yeah, but I couldn't fall asleep again." The blue blur fetched himself a bowl and a spoon, and poured himself some cereal. He drenched it with milk until the chocolate-flavored flakes were floating in it, and then took a bite. "These are pretty good," he mumbled to himself. He turned the cereal box around and studied the back of it. There was just something about the backs of cereal boxes that always managed to grab people's attention.

The older Sonic sauntered back into the room at that point, new bandages wrapped around his torso. "Back," he said, reclaiming his seat at the table. He picked up the carton of milk that was next to his younger self and took a drink from it.

"Seriously, can you stop doing that? It's nasty," the adolescent asked, annoyed with his future-self's manners.

The older hedgehog wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and set the carton back down. "It's a force of habit. And like I said before, your germs are my germs, and Tails stopped caring a long time ago."

"It makes doing the dishes easier. Not as many glasses to clean," the fox explained.

"And that makes it automatically okay," the twelve-year-old raised an eyeridge as he took another bite of cereal.

"H-hey, those are  _ my _ Chunky Puffs!" the other hedgehog said in surprise.

Mini-Sonic smirked. "Your Chunky Puffs are my Chunky Puffs," he said in a sing-song voice.

"Touché…" the older one grumbled.

Tails stood up and pushed in his chair. "I should get back downstairs. I need to check and see if the Emerald Radar's found anything yet."

"Just as long as it's not another four-armed monster like the one from yesterday," his brother joked. "Do you need me to clean the snow off the runway today, or can that wait until later?"

Tails looked through a window to the outside. "It's still storming out there, and it doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon. I won't be able to take the Tornado out until the weather clears, so you can leave it. Anyhoo, I'll catch you guys later," the fox said, leaving the kitchen and heading towards the basement steps. The kid speedster went back to eating his cereal, while his adult counterpart sat there fidgeting. He wasn't particularly hungry. The heat had finally kicked in, so he wasn't cold anymore. He didn't want to go outside while it was so nasty out, especially when the snow was deep. He was stuck inside the house with nothing to do. Realizing this, he started to tap his foot rapidly, and he groaned in frustration. He could potentially use the Chaos Emerald they obtained yesterday to teleport somewhere that wasn't snowy. Yeah, that was an option… He mulled the idea over in his head. He had no idea where he would go, and he hated to use Chaos Control unless he needed to, but at least he had a way out of the house. His foot calmed down, and his cabin fever subsided slightly.

"Jeez, you're fidgety today," the younger hedgehog noticed.

"Yeah, well so are you! I see those fingers drumming and those feet shaking," the older retorted. Mini-Sonic looked down at his left hand to see that he was, in fact, drumming his fingers rapidly. He curled his hand into a fist to get himself to stop it.

"Am not."

"Yeah, right. You think I don't know cabin fever when I see it? Tell you what, you finish your breakfast, we'll go for a run. I'll Chaos Control us to someplace that's not freezing. Like... I don't know, Apotos maybe? Apotos is nice this time of year. They've got some great rooftops to run on there." the older hedgehog said, getting pumped up for the run. He couldn't help it; it felt like it had been ages since he just ran someplace for the pure fun of it.

"Isn't Apotos on the other side of the world?"

"So? It's fun, and it's warm, and I really want to run."

"Are you sure you're even up for a run?"

"Aw, come on. I just hurt my chest is all! As long as I don't breathe too hard or overexert myself, I'll be fine," said the older hedgehog. "Trust me, we'll have a great time." He got up from his seat and slapped his younger self on the back before heading into the living room. He lowered himself onto the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table.

Maybe he should give Knuckles a call? With the way things were going, he could use the extra hand finding all the Chaos Emeralds. The echidna had a knack for finding treasure, after all- it was as if he had an Emerald Radar built into his head. Angel Island wasn't even too far away, so the temperamental redhead could easily make the trip over. Sonic picked up the cordless phone that was on the end table next to the sofa and dialed Knuckles' number. While the guardian of the Master Emerald initially refused to carry a cell phone with him, Tails had convinced him to at least carry a wrist communicator like the one Sonic had. The phone rang a few times on the other end before Knuckles picked up.

"What do you want, Sonic?" he asked, clearly annoyed that the hedgehog had the audacity to call him.

"Yo, Knucklehead! Look, I'm gonna just cut to the chase here. Me and me and Tails and Tails need to find all the Chaos Emeralds. Think you can put your little floating island in park and lend a hand?" Sonic asked nonchalantly.

"Are you crazy?"

"Um, could you maybe elaborate...?"

"Sonic, it's snowing like crazy over mystic Ruins right now. How am I supposed to land Angel Island there?"

"Oh yeah... I  _ though _ t this was too easy," Sonic said, embarrassed that he momentarily forgot such a huge factor. He had been thinking about the snow nearly all day. How did he manage to forget it?

"And don't ask if I can just leave Angel Island up in the sky unprotected, because it's not going to happen. If I find some other place to land, I'll let you know, okay? But until then,  _ don't call me unless I can actually come _ ." And with that, the moody echidna hung up. Sonic sighed. Well, Knux was out. Still, had other friends who could help.

He phoned Amy next, and while the pink hedgehog was enthralled that he called her, she wasn't able to help out, either; she was helping deliver supplies in Station Square to buildings that lost power, and she couldn't leave. Sonic tried calling Shadow and Rouge next, but they were stuck on a top-secret mission for G.U.N. Sonic even tried calling up the Chaotix, but they were snowed-in, and Charmy Bee had managed to come down with a cold.

The blue hedgehog slid the phone back into its stand, feeling somewhat defeated. It looked like they were on their own with this.

"You done yet?" Mini-Sonic said, leaning against the wall nearest the kitchen. "I've been waiting here for like, fifteen minutes."

"Hm? Oh, yeah. Sorry about that."

"You really think finding the Emeralds will be this hard?" the twelve-year-old asked.

"Ah, I don't know. Maybe? I just wanted to be on the safe side for once, that's all," the older hedgehog said, tilting his head back and looking up at the ceiling. "Plus, who knows how much time we have before things start getting  _ really _ screwed up around here? What if there are dinosaurs and robots and wizards all running around while the world falls apart?"

"Then we'll handle it," Little Blue said. "It's what we do, whether we like it or not. Now, come on. Didn't you want to go on that run?"

The older Sonic smiled. "I knew you'd come around," he said. "Just let me grab my sneakers from upstairs and tell Tails where we're going, and we'll set out." He got up from the couch and climbed upstairs. Before heading into his own bedroom, he poked his head inside the one shared by the two young time travelers. Lil' T was still fast asleep, curled up under the blankets. The hedgehog couldn't help but grin at the sight. He closed the door and went into his own bedroom. He slipped his famous red sneakers onto his feet, doing the straps up tight. He bounced on the balls of his feet, feeling good. He grabbed a few rings for spending money, just in case they got hungry while they were there, and then went back downstairs. He walked through the living room and headed straight towards the basement steps. Descending the stairs quickly, the hedgehog stopped next to Tails' computer. "Hey, I'm going to take the Chaos Emerald for a bit of a joy ride. Me and Mini-Me are going to go to Apotos," he said.

"Are you sure you're good to run? You don't want your wound to open up and start bleeding again," Tails said, concerned for his friend's well-being. Sonic spun the fox's chair around boredly.

"Chillax, Tails! I'll be fine. It's not like I'll be alone if anything goes wrong, so you have no need to worry."

"Okay, okay, if you insist," the vulpine said, turning back towards his computer. "The search for the Emeralds is coming up dry so far, but I'll let you know if I come across anything, alright?"

"Sounds good, pal. Good luck!" Sonic said, turning and heading back up the stairs.

"You too!" Tails called after him. The speedster strolled back into the living room and picked up the Chaos Emerald that had been sitting on the coffee table. He tossed it lightly in his hand as he walked up to his past-self, who was now seated in an armchair.

"C'mon, let's skedaddle," the older hedgehog said, flashing the Emerald in front of the adolescent's face. He gripped his hand to help him out of the chair while he focused on the power of the gem in his hand. " _ Chaos Control! _ " he shouted. There was a bright flash of light, a slight feeling of disorientation as they teleported halfway around the globe, and then it was suddenly dark.

It took the two hedgehogs a few moments to adjust to the dim lighting. It was nighttime in Apotos, and the lights of the city could be seen in the distance. At the moment, the two Sonics were standing in the middle of a field, with nothing but bright stars overhead. The breeze that blew by was warm, and rustled the grass in waves. The fresh scents of the ocean wafted through their nostrils, filling them with the feeling of adventure.

"Wow... It's beautiful here," Mini-Sonic said in awe, looking around at the scenery.

"You think this is beautiful?" the older one said, stretching out his legs. "It's even nicer in the city. All the sights and smells and sounds and people... It's a rush, let me tell you."

"Well, what are we waiting for then? Let's go!" the child said enthusiastically, taking off towards the white city. His older self smiled and boosted after him. Within seconds, they were running side-by-side, and trying to not bump into each other.

"Come on, follow the leader!" the taller hedgehog said, taking the lead. He ran up a tree and leapt off of one of the branches. He landed on another tree branch about fifteen feet away, and Little Sonic was close on his tail. He leapt from branch to branch, gripping with his hands and swinging from them when he didn't have enough height to land on them with his feet. This continued until they reached the city. Sonic jumped off the last tree branch and landed on a low, flat rooftop.

In Apotos, the buildings were all built extremely close together, so it made for an interesting run across the tops of buildings. Luckily, the roofs were all flat, making it harder to slip and fall off at high speeds. There were even some small loop-de-loops and platforms scattered about. For most people, it was just fascinating architecture. For Sonic the Hedgehog, it was an obstacle for him to have fun with.

The older hedgehog led the way through one of these loops, the end of which had a ramp that was perfect for jumping off of. He launched himself off it and landed in a narrow street lined with stands and vendors on one side, and a garden on the other. His younger self followed suit, and the two had some difficulty trying to get in front of one another without wrecking the city. There were a surprising amount of people around, for how late it was. Most of them were not terribly shocked to see a blue blur streak past them- it was the fact that there were two blurs which was the cause for excited yelps whenever the two hedgehogs ran by.

They kept this up for about an hour, laughing all the while. Sonic had forgotten how much he loved it in this place. It had friendly people, a great atmosphere (even though it was right next to the ocean) and the best ice cream around. But every time he had been in the city, he had some purpose- some reason to be there. Today, his only reason was fun.

  
  



	9. Attack on Apotos

The two hedgehogs ran a little while longer before the elder was forced to stop. He sat down on the edge of a roof, leaning up against a chimney. He was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. The younger Sonic skidded to a stop a few roofs away, then doubled back and approached his counterpart. "What's up?" the child asked, sitting down next to his older self. The smaller hedgehog wasn't breathing nearly as hard as the taller one. In fact, Little Sonic felt great.

"I'm fine. I was just… breathing too hard, is all. Ribs started to hurt again," the older Sonic said in between labored breaths. "Just give me a second, I'll be fine. I just need to let the pain pass."

"Sure thing," said the lighter blue hedgehog. He looked out at the city. It was truly beautiful, especially basked in the soft light of the moon. The whole city seemed to glow, the moonlight reflecting off of the clean white of the buildings. Why couldn't all cities be like this? Not filled with crazy death traps or robots or people who can't tell a hedgehog from a rat or a porcupine. Just a nice, normal city, filled with… cries for help?

"Did you hear that just now?" the younger Sonic asked, cleaning his ear out with his finger in case he was hearing things.

"Person screaming? You bet," his older self replied, trying to get to his feet. He was trying (and failing) to hide the fact that he was still in pain. "Come on, let's go check it out!" he said enthusiastically.

"Nice try, you're not fooling me. You wait here until you can actually move again, I'll go on ahead. Catch up to me once you're useful in a fight." The smaller hedgehog punched him playfully in the arm before jumping down from the roof they were resting on. He took off down another narrow street, in the direction of the scream. While not a huge fan of throwing himself into danger, he couldn't sit by and do nothing if someone else could be hurt.

He ran a short distance through the city before he came to a small, mostly empty plaza. There were several creatures scattered about, much like the one that he had fought in Windy Valley yesterday. These appeared to be a little bit smaller, a bit less powerful maybe, but definitely the same type of monster. The majority of them were crowding around one corner of the plaza; maybe whoever screamed was in that corner, surrounded by the beasts.

Wasting no time, the young hedgehog jumped into action. He revved up into a spin dash, and took off towards the nearest monster's legs. The creature fell over, its feet having been knocked out from under it, and slipped into unconsciousness as its head collided with the cobblestone street.

Sonic got to his feet and noticed the rest of the monsters had turned their heads towards him. Perfect. Well, at least their previous victim was safe. He took a fighting stance, standing light on his toes so he could dodge any attack quickly. After seeing what one of the big monsters did to his older-self, he was less than eager to get in a pickle concerning five of the smaller ones.

He sprung up into the air, curling himself into a ball and spinning around until he was more buzzsaw than mammal. He landed directly on the head of one of the monsters, doing a bit of damage with his spikes before he jumped off and landed on another one's head. This one raised its hands up to try and smack Sonic away, but the hedgehog jumped before the creature could hit him. The creature ended up bashing itself on the head, which only got worse when Sonic came down and landed on its noggin again. It slumped over, knocked out cold. Sonic jumped off of it before it hit the ground and landed outside the group of villains. He ran around them at high speeds, sending them all into a fit of confusion. He made another attack for one of the monster's legs, knocking it over before piledriving into its stomach.

He suddenly felt cold claws grip his midsection as he was lifted into the air by something behind him. One of the creatures had caught him off guard. His first instinct was to struggle to try and break free- he quickly decided against this, however, when he realized that wriggling around would probably only coax the creature's claws into penetrating his flesh. Instead, he flexed his quills, quickly turning them from soft hairs into spines that could cut metal. He whipped his head backward, jamming his quills into the monster's arm. The creature screeched as it let go of the hedgehog, and it was now bleeding a slimy green substance from its puncture wounds.  _ 'Ew' _ , Sonic thought, shaking some of the goop off of his spines. He was going to take a shower when he got back to the workshop, that was for sure. If he got back to the workshop, that was. His older self was still no where to be seen, and there were still three monsters left. Two of the monsters were suffering injuries, which, while making them weaker, also made them much, much angrier. Sonic quickly curled up into a ball and revved into another spindash. He needed to finish this before he ended up getting hurt.

He took out the legs of the bleeding monster, incapacitating it sufficiently enough to keep it from getting up again. The one whose head he had smashed into earlier charged at him, its long, strong arms preparing to claw his face off. Acting purely on instinct, Sonic ducked, sliding underneath the monster's legs. It was a good thing the hedgehog was short- if his older self had tried that trick, he wouldn't have made it. Once behind the monster, Sonic jumped onto its back, wrapped his legs around its neck, and yanked downwards, flipping the creature backwards over his head and onto the floor. That left one monster left to take down. Right? Sonic looked around, but the remaining beast was no where to be seen. Unless…

He looked up, remembering what Tails had said the other day about monsters dropping down from above. The monster had somehow climbed up one of the buildings surrounding the plaza, and was readying to pounce down on its unsuspecting prey. Sonic grinned up at it. This was one of the smart ones, apparently. Unfortunately, not smart enough. Sonic dashed up the side of the building the creature was standing on before it had time to react. Within seconds, the hedgehog was standing behind it. With a quick wave goodbye, Sonic jumped into the air and tornado-kicked the monster off the building, sending it plummeting to the ground. "And stay down," he said with a huff.

The monsters now defeated, Sonic jumped nimbly down the building and landed back in the center of the plaza. He wasted no time surveying the damage he and the monsters might have caused during their fight, and instinctively went over to the person the creatures had been ganging up on before he arrived.

An old man, a professionally dressed one at that, was regaining his composure as Sonic approached him. "Hey gramps, you okay? Those things didn't hurt you, did they?"

"Oh, no, I'm quite all right," the man said with a smile. He wore glasses, and had a very large, almost cartoonish nose. "Thank you for saving my life- Sonic? Oh, fancy meeting you here!"

"You know me?" the hedgehog asked, slightly confused now. He had never seen this old man before in his life.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten all about old Professor Pickle, now! It wasn't too long ago that I assisted you in putting the world back together. Only about three years or so, yes?"

"Ooohhh, no, look mister, you don't understand, I'm from-"

"Hey, younger-me! There you are!" Sonic turned around to see his older self finally approaching, apparently feeling much better. The twenty-year-old waved cheerfully before observing all the monsters laying about. "Wow, looks like I missed a heck of a party."

"Yo, this guy says he knows us!" the younger hedgehog said, pointing a thumb towards the professor.

"What? Oh, hey, Professor Pickle! Long time no see!" the older said cheerfully, approaching the old man with an outstretched hand.

"Ah, yes, indeed. Although, if I may ask, why are there two of you, Sonic?" the human asked, shaking Sonic's hand.

"Long story," both hedgehogs said in unison. They glanced at each other and laughed. "It's time travel, Prof," the elder Sonic said with a smile. "He's me, from eight years ago. Which would explain why he doesn't know you- by the way, let me introduce you two! Little me, this is Professor Pickle, from Spagonia University. Professor, this is my past self!"

"My, well it is a pleasure to meet you, Sonic!" the professor said, leaning down to shake the young hedgehog's hand.

"Erm, likewise. Oh, and you're welcome. For saving you from the monsters and stuff. It was no big deal."

"On the contrary! If you had not come, I surely would have been dead by now. You have my most sincerest thanks."

"So, professor," the older Sonic said, "what are you doing here in Apotos? Don't you have, you know, professor stuff to do?"

"Well, it is the summer you know. Thought I'd take a bit of a vacation!" the old man chuckled. "Also, Apotos is currently having its bi-annual sandwich competition, and my cucumber sandwiches are a prize contender!"

"Oh, right, the cucumber sandwich thing. Gotcha. Though, I'm not sure why those monsters would be interested in a sandwich party..." Sonic said, placing a finger on his chin.

"Yeah, I was wondering just what they were doing here, too," his younger self said. "Time hasn't stopped here or anything, so they have no reason to be here, right?"

"Time stopped? What?" the professor inquired.

"Yeah, it happened the other day in Windy Valley," the young hedgehog explained briefly. "Whole place is frozen in time, and we saw a monster a lot like these ones. Older me, you don't think...?"

The green-eyed hedgehog gulped. "Apotos is next... Professor, you need to get out of here as fast as you can. We need to evacuate the city. Time is going to stop here soon, and even if it's not, it's not safe to be here with all these monsters around!"

"Well, I can't argue with that."

Sonic nodded and pulled out the green Chaos Emerald, the gem sparkling under the combined light of the streetlights and the moon. The jewel sent a gentle rush of warmth through his body, filling him with energy. He could almost feel the Emerald thump in time with his own heartbeat. He winked down at his younger self.

"I'm gonna get the professor out of here," he said quickly. "I'll be back in a flash. Hold on tight, Prof!" He grabbed onto the old man's arm with one hand and gripped the Chaos Emerald with the other. "Chaos Control!"

And then they were gone in a flash of light, leaving the preteen alone in the plaza.

The twenty-year-old and the professor reappeared in a grassy field, about a mile out from the city. Sonic looked out at the port town and frowned. He didn't like the feeling he was getting in his gut.

"Oho!" Professor Pickle exclaimed, getting his bearings straight. "So that is what Chaos Control is like! Fascinating!"

"Sorry Prof, but I can't stick around and neither can you. You gotta get back to Spagonia, 'kay? Me and my younger self can handle things around here," Sonic said, turning towards the old man. He hated to just leave him, but teleporting all the way to Spagonia and back would take too much time and energy. The professor nodded, hands tucked behind his back.

"I understand. Best of luck to you, Sonic!" he said, glancing at the hedgehog in front of him, and then the city.

"Good luck to you too, dude!" Sonic smiled. He held the Emerald out in front of him and closed his eyes. He could feel the gem's energy mixing with his own as he gripped it tight. "Chaos Control!" he yelled for what felt like the hundredth time that day before vanishing into thin air.

ooo

Meanwhile, back on the other side of the globe, a young fox reawakened from his slumber. Tiny Tails yawned, stretching underneath his blankets. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before throwing his covers off of him and sliding out of bed. He shoved a pair of gloves onto his hands and slipped his red and white sneakers onto his small feet. "Sonic? You awake?" he asked, glancing up to the top bunk. He huffed when he saw the bed was empty. He knew his big bro had tried to get some more sleep, just like he did. Maybe the hedgehog couldn't fall asleep and had gone downstairs?

The kit left the bedroom and went downstairs, shivering slightly. Even with the heat cranked up, it was still kind of cold inside the workshop. Maybe he could ask if they could start a fire in the fire place and make some s'mores. He loved making s'mores when it got cold out.

Lil' T poked his head into the living room, expecting to see at least one Sonic in there. Alas, it was empty, and had been for over an hour. The kitchen was also deserted, as well as the hangar. All of the planes were still in their proper places, and a quick look out the window confirmed that no one had left the house on foot- there would have been a deep rut in the deep snow if they had. Where the heck was everyone?

The youngster decided that it couldn't hurt to check in the basement to see if anyone was there. He opened the basement door and wandered down the stairs, looking around as he reached the bottom. His eyes sparked happily as he spied the form of his older self sitting at the computer. He was typing away at the large console, which had screens covering half the wall.

"Older me!" the kit said with a smile, skipping over to the teenager.

"Oh, hey!" the older one said. "Look who's finally awake."

"Where are the Sonics?"

The blue-eyed one exhaled. "They said they were going to Apotos with the Chaos Emerald to get a bit of fresh air, but I haven't been able to get a hold of either of them on the older Sonic's communicator."

"Are they in trouble?" The child's eyes went wide. His future-self shrugged.

"Not sure. They're probably fine, we both know that they can handle themselves. If anything I'll bet they're having too much fun running around to even hear the communicator go off." He kicked gently with his feet, rolling himself away from the computer. His younger self climbed up onto the chair with him and took a seat on his lap.

"Maybe your call isn't going through because of the weather?"

"Not a bad guess, Little-Me. The workshop's satellite is pretty powerful though, so weather is almost never a problem with it. You never know, though, you could be right. Not much we can really do if that's the case, though." The teenager leaned back in his chair and blew his bangs out of his face. "Either way, they're probably going to be gone a while. What do you want to do in the meantime?"

The child curled into the chest of his older self, hearing the other's heart beat in time with his own. "Can we maybe make some s'mores in the fireplace?" he asked, looking up at the bigger fox with adorable puppy dog eyes.

The older Tails laughed. "You know that face won't work on me. I'm you."

"Yeah, but… but s'mores!"

"I never said we couldn't make s'mores," he smiled. It was amazing how much he still had in common with his six-year-old self. He had always loved sitting around a fire, whether roughing it outside or in front of a fireplace, and had always asked his big brother if they could make s'mores. Of course, back in the day, he and Sonic weren't the most well-to-do people on the planet, so the answer was almost always 'no.' As time passed, they started to earn a living from the whole hero business (as well as a few odd jobs on the side), and they would sometimes make cookies and brownies and things for super-special occasions. S'mores had always been the fox's favorite though, for some reason. Something about making them was just irresistibly fun, whether you were six or fourteen.

Besides, s'mores were a lot easier to get right than a pot of mac and cheese.

"Come on, let's head upstairs," the older Tails said, lifting his younger persona up off of his lap and setting him down on the ground. "You can get the graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate, and I'll go get the fire started."

The kid's face lit up like the Fourth of July as he flew up the stairs as fast as he could. He soared into the kitchen and immediately started tearing open cabinets and drawers, looking for what they would need for the campfire treats. The elder of the two was upstairs a few seconds later. He poked his head into the kitchen to make sure his past self hadn't broken anything in his excited haste, pointed out that the graham crackers were in the cabinet next to the microwave, and then ducked into the living room to set up the fire.

ooo

Sonic reappeared a split second later in the plaza, somewhat out of breath. He wasn't used to teleporting this much in such a short period of time. "I'm back! Miss me?" he said, expecting his younger self to answer. His ears, however, were met with nothing but silence. He looked around. "Little Blue? Hello?" His younger persona was no where to be found.

_ 'Where could he have gone? I was only gone for a minute.' _ The hedgehog tapped his foot, annoyed.  _ 'And he had the nerve to call ME impatient.' _ He sighed. He considered calling out for him, but he wasn't terribly keen on attracting any monsters that might be lurking around. Instead, he leapt up onto a nearby rooftop and scanned the city. It would be easier to spot the kid from above.

"Now, if I were me, where would I have run off to…?" He glanced around, looking for anything that was blue and moving at the speed of sound. He looked down at the streets of Apotos for several seconds before he noticed a streak of cobalt race down one of the larger avenues.  _ 'Bingo.' _

Sonic jumped off the roof, landing solidly on his feet, and took off in the direction his past-self was headed. The hedgehog felt on edge. He couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, given how empty the streets were. Even late at night, Apotos always had people strolling around. It was probably for the best, though; people were safer from the time monsters if they stayed in their homes.

The green-eyed hero made a sharp turn around a corner and accidentally ran right-smack into his younger self. The two fell to the ground in a jumble of limbs and curse words, each struggling to get back up again. Once they untangled themselves from each other, the smaller hedgehog kicked his counterpart in the shin.

"Ow! What was that for?!" the elder Sonic asked, clutching his leg with both hands.

"For ditching me!" his younger self scowled. "'I'll be back in a second.' Yeah, right! Where the hell WERE you?"

The twenty-year-old shot him a confused look, raising an eyeridge. "Dude, what are you talking about?" he asked. "I just 'ported Professor Pickle about a mile away from the city, and then I came right back."

"I've been waiting for you to come back for almost an hour," the child said, crossing his arms in frustration.

"An hour?! Ever think that that maybe has to do with the time stream acting up, and not me?"

"Well, yeah, but- it's weird. Here, I gotta show you something," Little Sonic said, giving his future self a hand getting to his feet. He walked over to a market stall on the side of the street. Nobody was manning the shop, even though it appeared open and ready for business. The young speedster picked up a small decorative bowl off of the stand, holding it up for the older Sonic to see. Then, he let go of the bowl, letting it drop.

The larger hedgehog flinched instinctively, expecting the ceramic bowl to shatter. When he didn't hear the sound of fine china being destroyed, though, he opened up his eyes. When he saw the bowl, his jaw dropped.

The piece of pottery was floating in midair, crawling at a snail's pace towards the ground. It was like it was falling in ultra-slow motion.

"See that?" the black-eyed hedgehog said. "Everyone in the city is moving at a normal speed, but stuff like this plate moves all slow-mo. Not only that, but all the clocks here are moving super fast. I assumed, y'know, that you were moving normal speed too, just like I was."

"That's certainly weird," the older Sonic said, putting a finger to his chin and leaning in to inspect the slowly plummeting plate. "We couldn't have BOTH been moving normal speed, though, because I KNOW I wasn't gone an hour. Maybe… Maybe everyone in the city is being sped up. That would explain why this thing is falling so slow- it's falling normally, and we're just moving so fast, it looks super slow. Time here isn't just slowing to a stop like it did in Windy Valley. It's going into an all-out frenzy before everything collapses. But why Apotos? Why now?"

"You mean you DIDN'T know this would happen when you brought us here?"

"I had no idea. Unless us being here somehow triggered something, it's a complete coincidence that all this is going down now."

"So I guess that leaves the question, why is time being all mondo-weird here? And is it our fault?"

"I dunno. Windy Valley's time stopped all on its own, so I don't think it's us… Do you hear something?" The older hedgehog turned his head around slowly, only to be greeted by an approaching horde of time monsters. A grin spread across his face. "Looks like I'm not too late to the party, after all!"

His younger incarnation took a fighting stance, bouncing up and down on his toes and shaking his hands to loosen up his wrists. "Where do these things keep coming from?" he wondered aloud.

"No clue," his older self answered. "Now come on, what are we waiting for? Let's kick some tail!" And with that, he took off towards the large group of monsters, adrenaline pumping through his body. He jumped high up into the air, spinning fast, and landed right on the head of the first creature he saw. The beast crumpled to the ground while Sonic sped off of it, bowling through about five of six more monsters before jumping to his feet.

"Come on, aren't you guys going to put up any sort of fight?" he asked, hand on his hips and yawning dramatically. One of the monsters nearest him let out a gurgling snarl as it swung its bulky arm towards the hedgehog's head. Sonic spotted the attack from a mile away. He leapt into the air, avoiding the attack with ease. "Hah! You stick-brains are gonna have to try harder than-" he stopped mid-sentence, the monster's other fist colliding with his stomach, right below the scar. He was sent flying back a good ten feet or so, landing hard on the cobblestone street. He coughed roughly. "Hey man, so not cool…"

"Good grief," his younger self said, shaking his head. "This is where being cocky gets you!" Deciding it was time for him to join the fray as well, he took a few steps back before launching forward towards the group of enemies. He slammed his foot into the chest of an upcoming monster, ribs shattering as it collapsed to the ground. Sonic was sure glad these things were evil, otherwise fighting them like this would give him nightmares for weeks. He could hear another creature coming up from behind him, and he swung his leg around. He felt his sneaker collide with the back of the monster's knee, and the beast fell to the ground.

Just as that monster came crashing down, the older Sonic got back up. His midsection was a little sore, part from the punch he received, part because his injury from yesterday didn't like when he curled up into a ball.  _ 'Dang it… I'm gonna have to be more careful. I REALLY don't want to hurt myself again,' _ he thought, instinctively running a hand over his bandaged chest.

He didn't have much time to relax, however, as the monster who had just slugged him in the gut was rearing up for another punch. The hedgehog ducked skillfully out of the way of the swinging fist, simultaneously sidestepping around the beast until he was standing to its side. He roundhouse kicked it, his foot hitting the nape of the monster's neck. It quickly fell to the ground, unconscious. "Wow, these guys are a lot easier than that big one we fought yesterday," Sonic remarked, punching another monster that had come up to him.

"There are also loads of them!" Mini-Sonic reminded his counterpart while shoving one of the creatures off of himself. He curled up into a ball, revving up and blasting through three enemies with a well-placed spindash. Meanwhile, his older self was busy homing attacking their heads, hitting each monster multiple times to ensure that it went down and stayed down. He landed next to the younger hedgehog after taking down at least five of the smoky creatures. He was breathing heavily, and his bandages were becoming undone because of all the movement.

"How you holdin' up, gramps?" his past-self asked, keeping his eyes on the enemy's dwindling numbers.

"First of all, stop calling me gramps," the older said, slightly annoyed. "Second, feelin' fine. You?"

"A few scrapes, I'll live. Looks like we've still got a little more fighting to do."

"I'll take the ones on the left, you handle the ones on the right?"

"Can do." Little Sonic nodded as he sped off, jumping into a monster's face. The green-eyed hedgehog smiled. It was kind of cool watching himself fight. He quickly turned his focus to the left side of the swarm of monsters. The only way he could take them out without the risk of being overwhelmed by them would be to either spindash through them multiple times, or to unleash a frenzy of homing attacks. Either way, he would have to curl up, causing his chest to ache even more. However, he didn't have too much of a choice. He ran towards the monsters, jumping into the air and curling up tight. He propelled himself forward, shooting into enemy after enemy. With the rate at which the two hedgehogs were going, it wasn't long before all of the creatures were incapacitated. The elder touched down from his barrage of aerial attacks, panting. All the movement had loosened his bandages even further, and they slipped off his tired form and fell to the ground. He stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Alright! That was some workout," he said, smiling. His younger self walked over, stretching his arms.

"Totally. Where do all these guys keep coming from, any… way…" The end of his question hug in the air as he looked at the older hedgehog's scar. "Is that the same cut you got yesterday?" he asked tentatively.

"Sure is!"

"What happened to it?"

"I accidentally 'healed' it yesterday when I used the Emerald to bring us all home to the workshop. Though I use the word 'healed' loosely…"

"I'll say. It looks even bigger than it did yesterday."

"What?!" The twenty-year-old ripped the remaining few strips of bandage off him and looked down at his chest. The scar that was just a line going across his torso the day before had become wider, now taking up a good quarter of his chest and midsection. "How on Mobius…?" he breathed, running a gloved finger along the scarred up skin. It wasn't especially warm, like it was that morning. It felt the same as the rest of him now. He frowned.

"It wasn't this big this morning," he said, glancing up at his past-self. The small hedgehog gulped.

"That's bad, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah."

"Maybe we should call it a day here and go back to the workshop? We should probably have the older Tails look at that-"

"Later," the injured hedgehog said with a shake of his head. "First, I want to find out why these monsters are attacking Apotos, and I want to see if we can get some of these folks out of the city."

"Oh, I already took care of that," Little Sonic said with a nod. "I helped evacuate the city while you were gone helping the Professor.”

"Excellent! Nice work, lil' me. You wouldn't happen to have any leads as to what to do next, would you?"

"Erm… I think most of the monsters have been hanging around the town square. We can check around there."

"Sounds like a plan," older-Sonic said, flashing his customary thumbs up. "Let's get going. I don't want to be here when time stops."

The younger Sonic nodded, and the duo started toward the center of the city. They didn't run too fast, trying to be mindful of the elder hedgehog's injury. The two rounded harsh corners and dashed through alleyways, taking out any stray monsters they found on the way. They made their way up to the rooftops, quickly traversing the city from above. It wasn't long before the town square was in sight. The Sonics stopped right on the edge of the last rooftop and ducked down, hiding themselves from view. They peeked out over the edge of the roof and gulped.

ooo

It wasn't long before the Tailses were seated on the floor of the workshop's living room, roasting marshmallows over the fire crackling in the fireplace. Their four fluffy tails fidgeted, trying not to get too warm from the heat of the fire. The house had warmed up considerably since that morning, and although it was still snowing outside, it felt warm and cozy inside.

The older of the two rotated his marshmallow over the flame slowly and evenly, ensuring that the sugary confection got golden brown all over and didn't run the risk of having it drop off the stick and into the fire. The younger, on the other hand, found himself getting continuously distracted by looking into the flames, or by something his future self was saying to him, and often had his marshmallow turn much darker on one side than the other. He accidentally burnt his white, fluffy snack more than once. One time, the marshmallow actually starting to bubble where it was closest to the fire. The older Tails kept giving up his professionally-roasted marshmallows to the child so that they could both enjoy some non-blackened s'mores.

Though appearing focused on the even cooking of his marshmallows, the elder fox's mind was buzzing with activity. A part of him felt wrong for cooking s'mores when there was a June blizzard outside and time was crumbling. But what could he do? His scans hadn't picked up the traces of any more Chaos Emeralds yet. The Sonics were both out, and they had the one Chaos Emerald the group had obtained with them, meaning that Tails couldn't use it to supe up his scanners. With the weather like it was, it would be difficult to even get to Station Square, never mind the opposite side of the world. At the moment, there wasn't much for the two-tail to do but to hunker down and wait.

He was also concerned about Sonic. True, the hedgehog had been known to disappear for a week or two at a time with little to no warning and almost no contact. But this was different. Now, the time stream was falling apart, and Sonic wasn't exactly in peak physical condition. Tails didn't doubt his big brother's abilities, but he couldn't help but worry sometimes. Especially since the speedster hadn't responded to any of his messages. What was up with that, anyway?

He smooshed his marshmallow in between two pieces of graham cracker and a square of chocolate, and took a bite. He savored the flavor hitting his tongue- warm, gooey, and sweet. He told himself to relax, that the Sonics had barely been gone for two hours, and that they were perfectly fine. After all, if anyone could handle himself in a sticky situation, Sonic the Hedgehog could.

"Aw, man," the six-year-old Tails whined next to him. "I dropped my marshmallow in the fire again."

"You're letting it roast for too long on one side, is all," the older one said, placing another marshmallow on his kid-self's stick. He placed his hand on top of the child's, and moved the hand and the stick with precision over the fire. They sat there in silence for a few seconds, watching the marshmallow slowly turn golden.

"I hope Sonic's okay. Both of 'em," said the smaller fox, pulling his knees up to his chest and resting his chin on them. The older Tails didn't look at him, and just stared into the fire.

"You read my mind, dude," he sighed. "I'm sure they're fine. They've both seen plenty of action before. They can handle themselves."

The child thought about this for a second, and then nodded. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He pulled the stick out of the fire and ate the marshmallow at its end in one bite.

ooo

The square was positively crawling with monsters. There had to be a hundred of them, at least. There were way too many enemies for even two Sonics to handle, especially since one of them had a painful, magically growing scar on his chest. They got down low to the roof, feeling tense.

"Yep," the younger hedgehog whispered quietly. "That's a lot of monsters."

"What are they all doing here, though? There's gotta be something special here," the other whispered back. "Something they're after, something they're guarding maybe."

Mini-Sonic poked his head over the edge of the roof and scanned the area, dark eyes darting about. He caught a glimpse of something red and immediately pulled his older self over to look. "Does that qualify as something special?" he asked, already knowing the answer. He directed the larger hedgehog's eyes toward a large pool in the center of the square that was filled with un-moving fountains. Sitting at the bottom of the pool was a fist-sized red stone.

"The next Chaos Emerald," the older speedster breathed. Suddenly, everything clicked. "They're attracted to the Emeralds. That's why time stopped in Windy Valley, and that's why time is stopping here. It's got something to do with the Emeralds." He narrowed his eyes and looked around the place. "Now, how are we supposed to get it without killing ourselves?"

The two sat in silence for a few moments, each scanning the environment for anything they could use to their advantage. Unfortunately, there were just too many monsters for them to get near the Emerald without being spotted.

"I'm going to have to use Chaos Control to go get it," the green-eyed hedgehog mumbled.

"Seriously? Jeez, it feels like relying on that so much should be against the rules or something."

"Okay, well, do you have a better idea?"

"One of us could always distract 'em while the other makes a mad dash for the Emerald. I mean, we're going to be spotted no matter what we try, so why not take advantage of that?" the adolescent hedgehog suggested with a shrug. His future-self mulled the idea over in his head.

"That could work… Especially since using Chaos Control any more today is not high on my priorities list," the elder nodded. "Okay, which one of us is the decoy?"

"I'll do it. No offense older-me, but you're not fit to be in the line of fire right now." The older hedgehog made a face, putting a hand to his chest.

"You're probably right," he admitted with a sigh. "I want you to be careful though, okay? Don't do anything too fancy, just get in, do what you've gotta do, and get out as soon as I have the Emerald."

"Okay. That goes for you too. Nothing fancy, Mr. 'These Monsters Are So Easy To Fight.'"

"Oh, shut up," the older Sonic smiled and playfully shoved the twelve-year-old. "Go on, go play in the middle of enemy territory."

"Fine, fine, I'm gone," the kid said with a short laugh. "Good luck, Sonic." And with that, he was gone, jumping stealthily off the roof of the building.

_ 'That's just trippy, him calling me 'Sonic,'’  _ the adult speedster thought, smiling. He snuck quietly down the side of the building and onto the ground. He poked his head tentatively around the corner, waiting until the coast was clear. Little Sonic was running high speed laps around the square, whooping and yelling all the way. He even took out a couple of monsters who had their backs turned to him. He came to a halt at the far side of the plaza, shouting something at the creatures, taunting them into going after him- monsters near the Emerald included.

Now was his chance. The older hedgehog dashed as fast and as silently as he could, reaching the edge of the pool without a problem. The problem laid in the fact that the Chaos Emerald was under three feet of water.

Sonic's quills bristled just looking at the stuff. It hadn't looked nearly so deep from the rooftop. Barely topping three feet tall himself, there was no way to get the Emerald without completely submerging his body in the liquid. He gulped, instinctively tensing up. It was a well known fact that Sonic the Hedgehog couldn't swim. It was lesser known that he was a total hydrophobe, to the point where he hated all water that wasn't in a glass, a sink, or coming out of his shower. Only a handful of people knew the true extent of his fear; he thanked Chaos that Eggman wasn't in on the secret. But, fear or no fear, he had a job to do, and he was determined to do it.

He looked down at the water again, shivers shooting up his spine. He really didn't want to go through with this. He glanced up to check on his past self. The younger hedgehog was dashing about, keeping the huge crowd of monsters away from the pool as best as he could.

_ 'Come on, Sonic, you're running out of time,' _ the older thought, eyes darting around nervously.  _ 'It's just a little water, stop being a baby. Just do it. The sooner you get that Emerald, the sooner you can go home.' _ He pulled off his gloves and gently stuck his fingers in the water, then his hand, then his whole right arm. He squirmed, hating the way the water felt. It felt like he was being swallowed up whole, the liquid finding its way into every single nook and cranny of his hand, coating his bare skin in wetness. He yanked his arm out after a few seconds and groaned unhappily. This would be harder than he thought.

He climbed up onto the lip of the pool, sitting so that he could have dipped his feet in if he wanted to. He took a deep breath, calming his nerves a little bit.  _ 'Okay, you can do this. Compared to Labyrinth Zone, this should be a piece of cake.' _ He quickly identified where the Emerald was so he could grab it without having to search for it blindly.

_ 'One.' _ He tightened his bare fists, knuckles turning white.

_ 'Two.' _ He inhaled, filling powerful lungs with precious oxygen.

_ 'Three.' _ He closed his eyes, held his nose, and dove in.

He sank like a rock, completely submerged in the water. His eyes shot open and started frantically bolting left and right. He started to panic, air escaping his mouth and nose in rushed blubs. The water squirmed its way into his fur, sending shivers all through his body. He couldn't hear anything clearly, he couldn't see, and he couldn't breathe.

Sonic really hated water.

He moved his hands around the bottom of the pool, searching for the elusive Chaos Emerald. He couldn't find anything. Had he accidentally shoved it away with his involuntary flailing?

Suddenly, his fingers brushed against something hard and smooth that filled him with energy and steadied his strained heartbeat. His ungloved digits curled around the object. As soon as he was sure it was firmly in his grasp, he jumped out of the water, soaring about ten feet into the air before coming back down to the ground.

He coughed and sputtered upon landing, his insides feeling waterlogged. He gulped in air, the oxygen tasting amazing after spending what felt to the hedgehog like an eternity underwater. He slowly got to his feet and grabbed his gloves. His legs were shaking a bit, and his breathing was still jagged, but other than this, he appeared outwardly to be no worse for wear.

"Hey!" his younger self ran over. "Got it?"

The wet hedgehog held up a bright red gem and smiled. "Of course."

"Then get us out of here!" The child glanced back, eyeing nervously the large group of angry monsters heading their way.

"Yipe! I'm on it… Chaos Control!"

 


	10. Calling For Backup

Using Chaos Control several times a day was not something Sonic was used to. That, accompanied with the fact that he was still a bit frazzled from his dip in the pool, made him miss. Instead of teleporting into the workshop kitchen, like he wanted to, he and his past-self landed in the snow outside. After much surprised screaming and shouting, the older Tails ran outside to help the frustrated hedgehogs out of a snow drift. It took some doing (the older Sonic practically had to be carried all the way) but eventually they all got inside again. Soon, the two hedgehogs were curled up next to the fireplace, cocooned in blankets.

"So, explain something to me," Tails said, re-wrapping Sonic's chest. "How exactly did you miss? You're usually pretty good with Chaos Control, what happened?"

"I dunno! I just… I missed, okay? You try warping space-time four times in a day," the older hedgehog grunted. He shivered. Being submerged in water and then thrown into the snow certainly wasn't the best for his health. "Man, I had better not be getting sick… I tried saving the day once with a cold. I could barely run in a straight line, and jumping was just ridiculous. I don't like being sick, Tails!"

"I know you don't, you complain about it every time you  _ do _ get sick."

"What am I supposed to do, just sit there and suffer in silence?"

"I would pay to see that. Good money, too." Tails finished tying the bandages, and made sure they were nice and tight. "If you're going to keep whining about it, I can check your temperature and give you some cold medicine."

"I don't know which sounds worse, medicine or your unusually high levels of sass."

"Okay, medicine it is then." Tails got up with a sly grin on his face and left to go get some from the medicine cabinet. Sonic's younger self couldn't help but giggle.

"I don't know dude, I don't feel sick at all. You sure it's not because you're just old?" he asked with a cheeky smile.

"Don't forget, I was dripping wet when we landed in that snow!" the older one said. He sneezed and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. He pouted. "It's got nothing to do with age."

Little Sonic simply shrugged and turned to face the fire. Just the fact that his older-self was on the defensive was enough of a victory for him. He didn't need to rub it in the guy's face. "Still… you're not exactly the most healthy guy around right now, you have to admit."

"I know, I know. This is harder than I thought it would be. If I had just paid closer attention when fighting that first monster…"

"Nothing you can do about it now. So unless someone randomly drops in and decides to handle the hero-ing, we've just got to keep trying to get the Emeralds by ourselves."

Tails came back into the room then, holding a thermometer and a bottle of medicine. He plopped down next to the older Sonic and stuck the thermometer in his mouth. "Just to make sure you're not REALLY sick," the fox reasoned, crossing his legs pretzel-style. After a minute, he pulled the thermometer out of Sonic's mouth and checked its reading. "Hmm... Your temperature is a little lower than it should be."

"Is that bad?" the hedgehog said, somewhat nervously.

"It means you have hypothermia."

"Hypothermia?!"

"Yep. Looks pretty mild though, you should be back to normal again once you warm up a bit. Maybe you should grab a hot water bottle or something, or else you might be shivering and confused for a few hours." The fox stood up and placed the bottle of medicine on the coffee table.

"What, you won't be a dear and grab a hot water-thingy for your sick older bro?" Sonic asked innocently. He shivered a little harder to really sell it.

"You'll be fine, you big baby," Tails smiled. He reached into Sonic's quills and pulled out the Chaos Emerald that he had obtained in Apotos.

"H-hey! Personal space there, buddy!" the hedgehog exclaimed. Tails merely tossed the Emerald in his hand nonchalantly.

"Sorry, I need it! My Emerald-tracking algorithms always work better when I have an actual Emerald to work with. Lil' T's helping me set up the program downstairs in the lab."

"So  _ that's _ where he is," the younger Sonic interjected. "I was wondering what happened to him. Way too quiet around this place, so I figured he was tinkering with something  _ somewhere." _

Tails nodded. "Yup. He's getting the hang of all my tech really quick, which is great. I know it's still kind of early in the game to be saying this, but I'll need all the help I can get. If one of us can hang around here to track more Emeralds, the other one can go out and collect them. Anyways, I'd better get this downstairs pronto." He held up the red gem he held in his hand. He then turned on his heel and headed towards the basement stairs.

_ 'Man, I never thought I'd be thinking this, but Tails has got a point with us needing help. As much as I enjoy going solo- or double, in this case- two Sonics might not be enough to get all the Emeralds in time. Especially not at the pace things are going right now.' _ He sighed. But what was he going to do? Knuckles couldn't land Angel Island with the Mystic Ruins in a mess, Amy was helping out the situation in Station Square, and none of his other friends were available, either. Where in the world was he going to get help from?

Wait. That was it. Just because he wouldn't be able to find help in this world, didn't mean there weren't others he could call upon. Heck, he had just gotten a visit from a Zone Cop two days ago.

"You know what I think?" he said, snapping his past self out of a fire-staring trance. "I think I know someone who might be able to lend us a hand."

"Really?" the younger hedgehog's eyes widened. "Who?"

"An old friend of mine… Who is probably on his lunch break right now, if that clock is anything to go by," he said, glancing at the clock on the wall. It was about one in the afternoon. "Whatever, I'll see if I can call him up in a little bit. In the meantime, where the heck is that hot water bottle…? I'm freezing!" He quickly got to his feet, taking his blankets with him, and ran around the house looking for sweet warm relief.

ooo

A few hours had passed, and after spending some quality time with a hot water bottle and the radiator, Sonic was feeling much better. He sat alone in the kitchen, holding a single piece of paper. On it read the words, "Yo, Zonic, got a minute?" He tapped his foot impatiently, holding the paper up to seemingly no one. He had been waiting like that for nearly twenty minutes now, and he was getting bored. But, even though he didn't like admitting it, two Sonics probably wouldn't be enough to save the world. Not this time. None of his regular teammates were available at the moment, what with time falling apart and everything. So, he was left to gather help from a less than likely source.

The younger incarnation of Sonic wandered into the room from the living room. He walked over to the fridge, pulled it open, and grabbed a can of soda out of it. He closed the door with his foot and popped the top on his beverage, the can opening with a sharp hiss. He took a long gulp from the soda and wiped his mouth with the back of his glove. The small hedgehog glanced at his older self and the sheet of paper he was holding.

"Um, what are you doing?" he asked, swirling the carbonated drink around in his hand.

"Trying to contact that old friend of mine I was talking about," the taller, bluer one said, as if what he was doing was completely normal. His past self cleared his throat.

"You could try the phone, you know. Unless this friend of yours can be reached through pure willpower and a sheet of paper."

"Haha, no," the older Sonic laughed. "He's watching though, I know it. He's always watching. Sort of creepy, I know, but it's his job."

This response only served to confuse his young self. "What, like a guardian angel or something? Don't tell me you believe in that crud."

"Eh, kind of. It's hard to explain. He's not any sort of mystical, all-powerful being, I can tell you that."

Little-Sonic raised an eyeridge and took a sip of his soda. He placed the drink on the counter and looked at the poorly-made sign his future-self was holding. The writing was hastily scribbled with crayon, and it looked like it was done on the back of an old printout of a chili dog recipe. "Zonic?" he said incredulously. "Sounds like a silly character one of your fangirls came up with."

"I'll just pretend I didn't hear that." The two Sonics spun their heads around to see that a round, orange portal had just opened up in the kitchen. Inside said portal was someone around the height of the older Sonic, wearing high-tech armor and a frown on his face. The rest of his head was obscured by a helmet with an opaque visor. Most noticeable about him, however, was that he was standing  _ sideways. _

"Hey, Z! There you are. I've been waiting for you to show up," the elder Sonic said, standing up out of his chair and placing his sign down on the table.

"What the-!" his past self said, taking up a fighting stance. "Who the hell are you? How did you get in here?!"

The one in the portal crossed his arms over his chest. "You had quite the mouth on you when you were younger, Prime," he said, looking at the older hedgehog. Sonic smiled and shrugged.

"Yeah, well! I learned to cool off on the language, Tails started picking up on it after a while." He slapped his younger self on the back a little harder than he normally would have, making sure his point got across. "Don't worry about him, Lil' Me, he's the friend I was telling you about."

"Your friend is a sideways guy in a goofy uniform?"

"Hey, be nice."

" _ Ahem _ ," Zonic cleared his throat noisily. "I do have other things to do, you know, so if you could tell me why I'm here...?"

"Oh! Right," the elder Sonic said. "I had to talk to you about something."

"So, get over here and we'll talk. I'm not having a trans-dimensional conversation like this, it'll drain the power core in my belt." He tapped a finger on his belt buckle, which was the device that opened up the portal in the first place.

"What? Oh, fine, whatever," Sonic sighed. "You're so difficult sometimes... Lil' Me, keep an eye on the Tailses, alright? I'll be back soon."

"But- where are you even going? Sonic!" the twelve-year-old argued, glancing between his future-self and the mysterious sideways 'Zonic.'

"Calm down, I'll just be 90 degrees from here. See ya!" He offered his younger incarnation a quick wave goodbye before jumping through the portal. The gateway closed up after him, leaving the child all alone in the kitchen, dumbfounded.

"...  _ What is 90 degrees from here even supposed to mean?!" _ he shouted. He knew he wouldn't be getting an answer to that question anytime soon, but he still had to ask it. He pouted and picked up his soda, taking a sip from it. Being stuck in the future was really starting to grate on his nerves; constantly being kept in the dark about everything was really annoying sometimes.

ooo

90 degrees away, the older version of this hedgehog was trying to get used to the No Zone's sideways gravity. It was oddly fascinating to him; how he stayed oriented to his own world's gravity and how this world seemed to be turned in its side. He was floating/standing sideways in mid-air, as Zonic did whenever he was in Sonic's world. While Sonic was taking all of this in, the No-Zoner flipped up the visor on his helmet, revealing his previously-hidden face. He sat down in the office chair of his monitoring station, a room filled with hundreds of television screens- each one with the live image of an alternate version of Sonic on it. He crossed his legs as he glanced up at his Prime Zone counterpart. "So, what did you want to talk to me about, Sonic?" he asked calmly.

"Well, we've got a teensey little problem, not really a huge deal, but I figured, 'hey, maybe I should let my old pal Zonic know what's going with all these time shenanigans.' That's all, nothing potentially catastrophic or anything," Sonic said with a shrug. Zonic sighed.

"The fabric of space-time is falling apart, isn't it?"

"It's crumbling faster than a cookie in the hands of a two-year-old. How'd you know?"

"Maybe you've forgotten," the Zone Cop said, lacing his fingers together, "but I see practically everything that goes on in the multiverse that concerns you and our other-selves. And let me tell you, the Prime Zone monitor has certainly been an interesting watch these past few days. Windy Valley and the capital city of Apotos frozen in time, Station Square and the Mystic Ruins being blasted with a snowstorm, and that's only the stuff  _ you've _ picked up on."

"You said it, my world is a mess. That's why I could use your help."

"And what exactly do you think I can do to help out?" Zonic asked, standing up now. "I told you before, time travel isn't exactly my thing, so there's nothing I can directly do to fix this. We've already put all other Zones in lockdown, so this whole situation stays contained. There's nothing else I can do."

"Not exactly!" Sonic said, wagging his finger. "Tails and I figure we can fix time if we gather all seven Chaos Emeralds. Normally, I could round them all up, no problem. But we're having a tricky time tracking the things down, and I'm... not really at a hundred percent right now." He wrapped an arm around his chest, drawing attention to the bandages that were covering his entire torso. "Of course, the guys are all either busy trying to help people out with time stopping everywhere, or I can't get a hold of them. Which is why I'm asking for some trans-dimensional assistance."

Zonic closed his eyes and massaged his forehead. "Okay, so I'm guessing you want to recruit a bunch of people from all different dimensions, and use my Zone Portals to get to the Emeralds quickly? Is that it?"

"A pretty good plan, right?" Sonic smiled, flashing his alternate-self a thumbs up. "So, what do you say, Z-man? Gonna lend a hand?"

"I'm going to have to say no."

"Alright, cool! Wel- wait, did you just say no?" Sonic said, doing a double take.

"I already told you, I can't just pull random Sonics out of their Zones willy-nilly, not without putting countless worlds in danger. The only reason No Zone is still connected to Mobius Prime is so that we can closely monitor the situation," the No-Zoner explained, as if it were first grade logic. Sonic sighed and ran his hand through his quills.

"Okay then, so recruiting from other Zones is a no-go. Can you still help us out with the portals, at least? I mean, I can use Chaos Control to get around the planet, but it's starting to take its toll on me."

Zonic thought about it for a moment, absentmindedly fingering the belt at his waist. "I'll... see what I can do. The Chaos Emeralds have a nasty habit of interfering with where Zone Portals open up, so I won't be able to land you too close to them. But I'll do what I can."

"Hey, that works just fine with me. Thanks a lot dude, I owe you one."

"Well, considering all the times you've helped out the Zone Cops, it's probably the least I can do, huh?"

"You said it," Sonic chuckled. He could feel an idea hatching in his brain. "Hey… Correct me if I'm wrong, but… You're a Sonic, technically, and your Zone isn't locked down like the others are."

"You want me to help out with your Emerald hunt, Prime? In case you haven't noticed, I kind of have a job to do."

"And that job's protecting the multiverse, right? Well, what better way to do that then to help put a stop to the problem yourself?"

"It's not that I don't want to help," Zonic said, giving him an incredulous look. "I'm better at hunting down lawbreakers than mystical gems."

"Pretty lame excuse for a guy who's supposed to be all business," Sonic said with a smirk.

Something in the Zone cop's head ticked. "Excuse?" he said, not making eye contact with his other self. "You want me to give you an excuse, Sonic?" His voiced raised. "Well, how's this for an excuse:  _ I'm not fast _ . I can't run like you, or any other Sonic out there. Okay? I'm a regular old slowpoke. Why do you think I took this gig in the first place, huh? You can't do much to protect people from inter-dimensional creeps if you're a civilian with no special abilities whatsoever."

Sonic fell silent. This was not what he was expecting from this visit. He struggled to wrap his head around what he had just heard. "You mean, you really can't…" He licked his lips, his mouth dry. "Dude, I had no idea, honestly." He couldn't believe it. Zonic the Zone Cop, one of the best blue hedgehogs out there, couldn't run _. 'Come to think of it, I've only seen the guy in action a handful of times, and he would usually stick to using his gadgets or going hand-to-hand… Well, I guess this explains why he was always calling me up to help protect other zones,'  _ Sonic thought.

Zonic clenched his eyes shut and rubbed his forehead. He took a deep breath and sat down in his chair, elbows resting on his knees.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that. Not really professional of me."

"Heh, you honestly think I care about that?" Sonic smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "Professionalism, not being fast, whatever. You still have skills, man. Mad skills! I mean, aren't you supposed to be the Zone Cops' star officer or somethin'?"

The cop couldn't help but crack a grin at that. "I may have been called that once or twice, yeah." He shook his head and sighed. "I don't know, Sonic. This isn't exactly my usual gig. Even if I come with you- and that is still an if, by the way- I don't think I'll be enough to get the job done with room to spare. Especially considering how unstable your world is right now."

"Well then, what do you suggest we do, officer? No offense, but you're not exactly the first person I've asked for assistance. I'm running out of folks to get in touch with," Sonic asked, hands on his hips. The No-Zoner exhaled through pursed lips and sat back in his chair. He sat there quietly for a beat, thinking.

"My men aren't going to be much help. They're all scrambling just to enforce the lockdown and keep this mess contained. So unless we recruit the prisoners in the Zone Jail for help, I don't have a clue who to go to," he joked.

Sonic smirked and gave a short laugh. "The Zone Jail, eh? The one person I know in that joint… Probably one of the last people I'd like to work with, ever."

"It's not like you guys haven't worked together before."

"Yeah, I believe those were called 'quick truces to take down the robots that want us both dead so we can keep fighting uninterrupted.' Hardly an alliance, wouldn't you say?"

"I don't like him either. Don't forget, he tried to destroy what was left of Zone City. I'm just saying, he's an option."

"He's in  _ prison, _ Z. And he should stay there, locked up where he can't hurt anybody." Sonic shook his head and looked at the monitors covering the wall. Each screen showed an alternate version of him- hey, he could see himself in Zonic's office on one of the monitors. Freaky. The screen directly underneath his own showed a familiar, green hedgehog with short quills and a suspicious orange outfit. He was sitting on the edge of a bed- well, what was left of the bed, anyway. It looked like he didn't have a mattress of his own, just a bunch of springs to sleep on. He looked pretty miserable.

Zonic got up out of his chair and stood next to Sonic. "Well, if you want help, you're going to have to be open minded about where it comes from," he said, also looking at the screen with the imprisoned hedgehog. "Even if it comes from Scourge."

Sonic didn't say anything, but narrowed his eyes and frowned. It was true, he shouldn't discriminate when it came to getting help, especially when potentially the whole multiverse was at stake. Not to mention, Scourge was incredibly powerful- as fast as Sonic himself was (although the blue hedgehog would never admit it) and packed an even harder punch. Having him on the team would make the mission a breeze.

But at the same time, Scourge was completely untrustworthy. He turned on every person he ever allied himself with, if his allies didn't mutiny against him first. He had conquered his planet, tried to do the same with Sonic's own, and when that didn't work, he went after the No Zone, trying to bring the perpendicular world down with him. It had taken some serious hard work to get the guy in jail and have him stay there. He'd been in there for a year already, and if it were up to Sonic, he'd stay there for the rest of his life.

"Are you seriously suggesting we let him out? Knowing him he'll just try and conquer my planet all over again, and I'm definitely not going to put up with that a second time," Sonic said. His No-Zone self shrugged noncommittally.

"It's up to you. You never know, he might cooperate."

"You're the one who can see what he's up to. You tell me if he'll cooperate."

"Well, take a look for yourself. Does he look like much of a bad guy in there?" Zonic said, turning around. He picked up a mug off of his desk and took a sip of hot coffee.

"Zonic,  _ Eggman _ would look innocent rotting in a place like that."

"No, he'd be busy scheming an escape plan. I've been looking in on ol' Green every once in a while, and he hasn't been up to much. Just getting beaten up a lot."

"I'd love to see that," Sonic laughed. He looked up at the screen again. Scourge was being pulled from his cell and forced to walk down a long hallway with loads of other inmates. "Hey, what's going on?"

Zonic glanced up. "Hm? Oh, they must be taking them down to the rec yard. Can't keep them locked up all day, you know."

Sonic nodded and turned back to the screen. The fact that Scourge had to be removed from his cell by guards was curious, at least. It looked like the green hog didn't want to go anywhere, just wanted to stay in his cell and be all alone. Sulking in his room? That didn't seem like Scourge's style at all. Were things really that bad in the Zone Jail that he'd been changed that much?

"Maybe I'll consider asking him to help out," Sonic muttered quietly. "I'll have to talk to him first, though. I don't need him playing us like fools just so he can escape."

"I hear you. He's not stepping a foot out of that place unless we're positive he's not going to run off at the first opportunity," the Zone Cop said, taking another swig of coffee. "You want to go pay him a visit? You're already here, after all."

Sonic frowned. He was really against the idea of doing anything that would help his evil self, but if Scourge could really help…

"Meh, why not? The worst he can do is say no."

ooo

Ten minutes later, they were all ready to leave. Zonic had managed to convince Lieutenant Zector to handle monitor duty until he got back, and had also gotten a spatial stabilizer for Sonic. The device was silver and shaped like a bracelet, so it could easily slide onto the wrist. It kept whoever was wearing it oriented in the zone they were currently in; whether it be a Prime-Zoner in the No Zone or a No-Zoner in the Prime Zone.

"Alright Prime. Teleporting will be faster, since we're travelling within the same Zone. You ever teleported before?" Zonic asked, inspecting his belt to make sure its teleporting device was working. Sonic nodded with a cocky grin.

"Totally. I teleported, like, five times this morning using the Chaos Emeralds."

"Great, then you know the drill. I assume you won't throw up, so let's get this show on the road already."

Sonic's eyes widened as his counterpart grabbed his wrist. Zonic pressed the button on the center of his belt buckle just as Sonic sputtered, "Wait, throw up?!"

But it was too late. The Mobian felt like he as being pixilated, breaking apart into millions upon millions of tiny pieces and shooting off towards the direction of the prison of what must have been close to the speed of light. He shot through walls, through people, open air, cities, and mountains, traveling in a single straight line. He had never gone so fast in his entire life, not even as Super Sonic. The ride was over almost as soon as it began, though, and he could feel his molecules rearranging themselves and falling back into their rightful places. He rapidly rematerialized, Zonic standing at his side just like before they left. Once he was all back in one piece, he immediately doubled over and fell to his knees. He felt awful, like his stomach had reformed upside-down and his guts were all inside-out. He puked. He wasn't able to hold his lunch after that wild ride. Zonic took a step back, a little bit grossed out.

Once Sonic was done purging his insides, he wiped his mouth with the back of his glove and sat down, breathing hard. He spat a couple of times, trying to get the taste of bile out of his mouth. "The hell, man?" he coughed. "I thought that'd be like Chaos Control, not a freaking Tilt-a-Whirl. Urp…!" He lurched forward and vomited again.

"Hey, I never used Chaos Control before. How was I supposed to know it was different?" Zonic asked, throwing his hands up defensively. "Just be glad you're rightside-up. Throwing up sideways is NOT a pleasant experience."

"Oh, gross, TMI dude," Sonic moaned. He climbed to his feet. His legs were shaking, so he grabbed onto a railing next to him help himself stand up. "So where are we? Is this Zone Jail?"

They were standing outside the prison, several hundred feet up on a suspended metal platform. The whole prison complex seemed to be floating in mid-air, making it practically impossible to escape. The rec yard made up the surface of the jail- the whole surface. The place must've had its own artificial gravity, because the complex was shaped like an octagonal prism and had walkways facing in all directions.

"Yep. Welcome to the Zone Jail, home to some of the multiverse's worst criminals. The guys in Scourge's cellblock should be in the rec yard right now," Zonic said, looking at the main building.

"So all we have to do is find Scourge and get him to talk to us. And not get murdered by prisoners."

"And convince the Warden to let Scourge out of here if he agrees to help."

"And that, too." Sonic nodded and looked over the rec yard. There were people everywhere; some playing basketball, some lifting weights, some just walking around and talking. Zonic sighed and flipped down the visor of his helmet.

"Okay, you see if you can get a hold of Scourge, maybe ask a guard to go and grab him or something so you don't get creamed by all the bad guys in there. Even though you two hate each other, I think he'll be more receptive if you try and talk to him. I'm going to try and convince the Warden to release his prized prisoner a bit early."

"Sounds like a plan."

"Alright then. Oh, wait, you might want to take this." Zonic pulled a small card out of his pocket and handed it over. It was made out of red plastic, and looked almost like a credit card. "The guards are less likely to bug you if you show 'em that. In theory, me giving this to you gives you all the access to this place that I have, but since we'll be dealing with Scourge, you'll just have to play it by ear. Good luck, Sonic," Zonic said. He turned and jogged down the pathway, turning through a door and vanishing into the building.

_ 'So that really is as fast as he can run...' _ Sonic thought, a tinge of sadness in his inner voice.  _ 'Oh well, there's not much I can really do about it. I need to focus on finding Scourge... Man, I can't believe I'm actually doing this.' _ He took off, going in the opposite direction that his No Zone self went, trying to find some way to get down to the rec yard. Or at very least, a guard who could get Scourge out of there so Sonic could talk to him. What was he even going to say? He had tried to convince Scourge to switch sides in the past, and nothing had worked. It wasn't like the guy didn't have the potential to be a good guy- he and Sonic were incredibly similar, even though neither of them really liked to admit it. He had the capacity for kindness, but his ego usually got in the way of that. Hopefully his time in prison had given him a reality check.

"Hey, you!" shouted a voice from behind him. Sonic spun around to see a guard running towards him, laser pistol aimed at his chest. "You're not authorized to be up here! Put your hands up!"

"Yo, calm down! I'm cool to be here!" Sonic said, hands in the air. "I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, y'know, the Prime one? Zonic brought me here, I'm with him!"

"The Captain brought you?" the guard asked warily.

"Sure did. I can show you where I vomited because of the stupid teleporting belts you guys have."

"Err, that won't be necessary," the guard said, trying to hide his disgust. "So, if Captain Zonic brought you, where is he?"

"Ran off to go find the Warden, had to ask him about something. I tagged along because I need to have a chat with Scourge."

"Sorry Sir, but unless I see some ID or talk to the Captain myself, the only one you're going to have a chat with is the recipient of your one phone call."

"Hey, come on! I'm not causing any trouble, am I?" Sonic asked with a cocky smirk plastered on his face. He knew that he could easily show the guy the card that Zonic gave him, but messing with him was too much fun. The guard didn't seem to be having any of his sass, and his face grew more serious and he reached for the handcuffs hooked to the back of his belt. He was coming close to slapping them around the hedgehog's wrists when something else caught his eye.

"What the?" He looked over the side of the walkway into the rec yard. Because of how No Zone's gravity worked, all of the inmates were standing sideways in comparison to the other Zone Cops, even with the artificial gravity in place. No Zone physics were a difficult thing to grasp, and tended to make more sense the less you thought about them.

What had caught the guard's eye was the sight of a fight breaking out in the yard. At least five or six convicts were gathered around one other in the middle, beating him down into the ground. A small crowd of others was crowded around, laughing, cheering, and clamoring for a chance to get in on the action as well. The others in the yard weren't participating, but almost all of them were watching, and none of them were helping the guy in the middle of it all.

The guard fired warning shots into the air with his pistol before turning it towards the group of inmates. "Oi, knock it off down there!" He shouted loudly. "Or do I have to send you all to solitary?!" The threat of solitary confinement made a couple people in the crowd back off, but not the majority.

Sonic frowned. He could feel his protective instincts kick in. The exact same instincts that told him to protect his home of Green Hill, along with the rest of South Island, from Robotnik's first attack; the same instincts that told him to rescue Tails all those years ago from the bullies in Emerald Hill. Sonic put a foot on top of the railing on the side of the walkway and used it as a springboard to jump off of. He leapt into the air, removing his spatial stabilizer mid-jump. He fell towards the rec yard face-first, and quickly corrected his orientation. He landed softly on his feet about three yards away from the fight.

"Yo!" He called out, his arms crossed and his foot tapping wildly. "The dude with the gun said to cut it out. Maybe you ought to listen!"

Some of the fighters turned to look at the hedgehog that was intruding on their fun. "And what if we don't?" One of them, a huge brown bear, asked, cracking his knuckles as he started to walk over. A couple of the others followed his lead, smiling menacingly. Sonic's frown turned to a small smirk.

"Well then, you'll have to answer to me." Suddenly, in a flash of blue, he was gone. The prisoners were starting to think they should've just kept to their one target, instead of picking a fight with this newcomer. Sonic's feet came to a stop right behind the bear. He stood on his tiptoes and tapped the bear on his left shoulder, and then quickly sidestepped to the right. The bear turned around, confused when he couldn't find the one that poked him. He kept turning until he was looking right at Sonic, who smiled up at him as if he had done nothing wrong. The bear growled, leaning back to throw a punch right at the hero's head. The hedgehog quickly ducked under his legs as he let his fist fly. The prisoner now off-balance, Sonic gave him a swift kick in the back, sending him toppling forward onto his face.

With the bear taken down, the rest of the prisoners who were with him decided it was high time to attack. The group of about ten or so charged Sonic head-on, which was a poor plan of attack in retrospect. The green-eyed hedgehog jumped over the first few of them, and brought the heel of his sneaker down on the head of a dumbfounded skunk. The aggressor's face contacted the ground a split second later. Sonic used his momentum from his previous jump to front flip off the skunk's noggin and land back on the floor- right in the middle of the inmates who wanted his head.

They stood that way for a heartbeat, letting the Mobian take in his current situation. It didn't last long, though. The first one to make their move was a tiger, a female, who ran at him from behind. Her claws were bared, her sharp teeth gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Sonic saw an attack from behind coming from a mile away. He ducked to the side and stuck his leg out right as the tigress was about to swipe a couple of quills right off his head. He swung his leg back in a sweeping motion, knocking her feet right out from under her. Thanks to her speed and forward momentum, she tripped and went flying into another inmate, a wolf, both of them crashing to the ground. Sonic grimaced. He wasn't a fan of hurting girls, but she asked for it. He didn't have much time to concern himself with his level of chivalry though, as a maddened Cobra was the next one to try something on him. This one seemed to be smarter than the others: rather than aiming for Sonic's head, this one went for the legs, something the hedgehog would be powerless without. Unfortunately for the snake, the hero wasn't about to let him get a lucky shot in and disable his legs. Sonic swung his legs out from under him and spun them around, supporting himself with his arms. His breakdance style of fighting proved effective, as the Cobra was blasted away, forcefully exiting the quickly shrinking circle of inmates.

The remaining prisoners were done taking Sonic on one at a time. Before he had even recovered from his totally sick dance move, three of them attacked him all at once. One of them, a rhino, grabbed his swinging leg mid-air as it started to slow down. The other two, a warthog and a large purple cat that looked remarkably like Big, grabbed Sonic's other leg and his arms, respectively. They held the hedgehog up in the air, looking like they were getting ready to rim him limb from limb all at once. Sonic gulped. This was going to be a tough pickle to get out of. Of course, he had a plan of action stored away incase anything like this ever happened, although he had hoped that when he tried it out for the first time, it would be on enemies that weren't as big as these lugs.

Focusing on all the strength in his legs and abdominals, Sonic swung his legs upward, taking the rhino and the warthog with them. The two sailed over his head and landed on Big's doppelganger, all three crashing to the ground and releasing their grips on the hedgehog's limbs. Sonic quickly got to his feet. He really should haves stretched before doing that, but oh well. It was a good thing his legs were powerful enough to carry him faster than the speed of sound, or else that never would have worked. He glanced around at the remaining inmates that weren't flat on their backs/faces. There were only four left, and they were starting to look like they were really regretting the decision to storm the one-hedgehog army. None of them were making a move, each waiting for another to attack first. Sonic shrugged with one shoulder. It looked like he would have to finish this up. He curled up into a ball and started spinning rapidly in place, revving up for a spindash. He shot at an angle towards one of the four, not even hitting him but the force of the wind that followed being enough to knock him onto his tail. Sonic was right on target with the last three, knocking each of their legs out from under them in quick succession.

In about two minutes, Sonic had taken down ten Zone Jail inmates, who were some of the worst scum in the universe. He barely even broke a sweat.

He looked up to see everyone in the rec yard staring at him, wide-eyed and open mouthed. Even some of the guards were staring at him in awe. He rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips. "Alright, there's nothing to see here, folks! Go on, go back to your regularly scheduled programs," he said loudly, dismissing all the stares with a wave of his hand. Everyone awkwardly and slowly turned their gazes elsewhere, having to settle for whispering about what had just happened amongst themselves. Sonic looked down at the trembling inmates at his feet, still lying on the ground. "BOO," he shouted, causing the bear in front of him to yelp and scamper off, tail between his legs. The others followed suit, grumbling and cursing off the blue one for ruining their fun. The hedgehog shoo'd away the few stragglers that were left over from the original beating, who had decided to continue beating on their original target rather than take Sonic on. Once the scene was clear, Sonic huffed.

"Well, that was a nice change of pace. Fighting monsters all the time gets pretty boring," he yawned. He looked down at the prisoner who was getting wailed on before, who was still lying face-down on the ground. "Hey dude, you alright?" he asked. The bullied inmate was green- the kind of green that looked like it was duller than it was supposed to be- and sported short, choppy quills swooping off the back of his head. His orange jumpsuit had patches all over it, and had two holes in the back where a pair of spines were jutting through. He appeared to be the same height as Sonic, and sported a pair of familiar-looking black and green boots on his feet. Sonic's eyes widened. There was no way.

"Wait... Scourge?"

  
  



	11. The Gang's All Here

"S-Sonic?!" Scourge stammered, staring up in disbelief at the hedgehog standing in front of him. "The hell are you doing here?"

"I was looking for you!" Sonic gasped. He couldn't believe that his arch-rival, his enemy with whom he was evenly matched, had been getting pounded on by a group of goons. "I needed to ask you something, but I think I'm more curious as to why those lugs were able to lay the smackdown on you like that. You haven't really gotten that rusty since our last fight a year ago, have you?" he asked, his voice slightly sing-songy on that last part.

Scourge growled and wiped away the blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. "Shut up. Like you even give a crap, you're just glad that someone else can beat me up now. Free up some time in your oh-so-busy hero schedule."

"Oh, come on. That's not the case, and you know it. I just saved your butt, so I think you owe me some answers, at least." Sonic held out his hand to help Scourge to his feet. The green one flinched instinctively at the outstretched hand. Sonic quickly withdrew, and Scourge got to his feet on his own.

"Scourge, are uh... Are you okay?" the blue hedgehog asked.

Scourge stared at him, dumbfounded.  _ "What?" _ he asked, cleaning his ear out with his finger, in case he heard Sonic wrong. Which he must have, because there was no way his good twin, his arch enemy just asked if he was alright.

"I, uh, wanted to know if you were okay. That looked like some beating you took there, and..." Sonic licked his lips, looking for the right words. "I don't know, normally I'd be the first one to knock you into the floor, but that just wasn't a fair fight."

The green one nodded slowly and brushed the dirt off of his orange jumpsuit, wincing as his hands passed over bruises. "Well, okay isn't the word I would use, but I'll live," he said hesitantly. "Look, whaddaya want? Must be important if you came all the way here."

"It is," Sonic said, his face grim. "My world is in big trouble."

"Ooh, really? Sweet. What kind of trouble?" Scourge said with a toothy smile.

"The kind that'll spread over everything in existence if we don't put a stop to it!" the hero said harshly.

"So... what possessed you to come here and ask  _ me _ for help? Maybe it slipped your mind, Blue, but I kind of hate you, and your stinkin' planet. Not to mention, I'm in jail right now, thanks to you."

"Believe me, I know. You think you're my first choice, lawnhead? I asked everyone else I know for help. No luck. I'd love to handle this on my own, but considering how much is at stake here, I need to play it safe and get as many people on board as I can."

"You're playing it safe by asking your enemy to help you?" Scourge laughed. "How freaking desperate are you? Wittle Sawnic's fwiends won't come out to pway?"

"Scourge, I-" Sonic grabbed his look-alike's arm and dragged him off to the side of the yard, where they were less likely to be heard. "The time stream is falling apart," he said slowly, putting emphasis on each word. "It's crumbling, even as we speak. There are already certain areas of my world that are frozen in time, completely still, and infested with monsters. We need all seven Chaos Emeralds to fix this mess. We have two. That means we have to get the other five, and  _ fast." _

Scourge gulped. "So that's why you came to ask me," he said, starting to understand the gravity of the situation. "And this time stopping whatever... It'll spread to other Zones?"

"According to Zonic, yeah. And you know him, he's not usually wrong. That means No Zone is in danger, Moebius is in danger- all of them! The multiverse could be wiped from existence by the end of next week." Scourge rubbed his hand over his short quills.

"So what happened, why the hell is time falling apart?" he asked.

"There's this monster, called a Time Eater. Eggman used it for his last big scheme, and I  _ thought _ we'd taken it down. Apparently all we did was make it mad," Sonic explained.

"We?"

"Me and my past-self. This thing basically eats up time and erases space, so when it ripped me and my friends out of the time stream, it ripped my twelve-year-old self and Tails' six-year-old self out too."

"So you want me to team up with  _ two Sonics and two Tailses? _ To save  _ Mobius?" _

"Zonic might tag along too."

"Oh, that's just great! Really, that's fantastic. Well, thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to rudely decline. So screw off, and have fun with time falling apart or whatever." The green one briskly turned and started to walk off.

"You'd really rather stay in this place than team up with me?" Sonic called after him.

"Uh,  _ yeah," _ Scourge yelled back, holding his middle finger up in the air at his other-self.

_ 'But I  _ do _ want to get out of here,' _ he thought bitterly as he walked away.  _ 'Hanging around Sonic and the Bozo Squad, though? I'd rather stay here.' _ He started walking faster, trying to get away from Sonic. He didn't need this today.

Once he had gotten some distance between himself and his heroic counterpart, he realized he needed somewhere to go. Nothing ruins a cool exit like stopping twenty yards away and just sitting on a bench in the corner, which is what Scourge did almost every day when they let him out of his cell to get some air. He didn't have anyone to hang out with, besides Cal and Al, that wouldn't try and beat him to a pulp again. He was nervous about wandering around any of the populated areas, like the basketball court or the exercise yard, for the same reasons. He shuddered a bit, remembering the last time he'd strayed too close to the basketball court. Some hulking guy had picked him up by the back of his shirt, rolled him up into a ball, and used him as the basketball for a few rounds.

_ 'On second thought, maybe this is the chance you were waiting for.' _ He slowed down, occupied by the thoughts flying through his head.  _ 'You _ did  _ say you'd like to try out the whole hero gig, after all. Even if it'll mean working with Sonic and band of losers, at least you'll get out of here. Face it, being stuck with them is probably a way better deal than being here, no matter how much you try and convince yourself otherwise.' _ He came to a full stop, staring down at the ground. What should he do? He could stay in Zone Jail and keep what little dignity he had left. He could keep right on hating Sonic, just like he always had. Keep being the evil doer he was meant to be. But... he could also get away from here, escape the daily beatings, be a hero for once in his life. Was he cut out for it, though? He couldn't really be a good guy, could he?

"Why'd you stop? I thought you were ditching me," Sonic said, suddenly standing next to him.

"What?" Scourge breathed, having been caught off guard by the blue hedgehog's surprise entrance. "I'm thinking. Maybe you've heard of it."

"Uh oh, snark attack, close the beaches!" Sonic said, waving his hands next to his face in fake panic.

"You're really not helping your case here, Blue."

"At least I have a case to begin with. Must be rough in this place if you want out that badly." Sonic walked in front of Scourge and turned to face him, his hands behind his head.

"Yeah, THAT'S the understatement of the year," the green hog grunted. "You saw what those jerks were doin' to me. I can't even defend myself in this place, not with this stupid collar on." He tugged at the metallic collar around his neck.

"An inhibitor collar?"

"Yeah," Scourge nodded, his icy blue eyes refusing to meet Sonic's warm green ones. "Suppresses my abilities. I'm not strong, I had to kiss my agility goodbye, and I can't even  _ run _ in here. My legs have been itching for the past year and I can't even scratch. But of course, the other lugs in this joint don't need super speed to cream me. They can't have their muscles sapped away."

Sonic hesitated before he replied. Scourge seemed... pretty sincere, which was probably a first for him. Sonic's mind came up with six jokes on the spot that he make about his evil-self's predicament, but he had to hold his tongue. He wasn't going to win Scourge's trust by making fun of him.

Just as he was about to open his mouth in reply, he could hear someone shouting towards them.

"Hey,  _ Snot!" _ the person yelled from about fifty yards away. "You and your  _ boyfriend  _ gonna start making out or what?!" Whoever was yelling started cackling obnoxiously, like they just made the best joke ever. Sonic raised an eyeridge.

" _ Snot? _ Is that all they got?" He asked rhetorically, setting his hands on his hips. "I thought this was a prison, not a middle school..." he added under his breath.

"Yeah, you try putting up with these knuckleheads day in and day out. It ain't easy ignoring all the crap that they spew!" Scourge scoffed.

"Man, I hear ya," Sonic exhaled. "Bullies suck."

"Got that right."

The blue one made a small grin. "Not so nice being on the receiving end of it, hmm?"

"What? I haven't- dammit. Not cool, Blue," the Moebian said with a scowl. Sonic couldn't help but laugh at the hole his twin had dug himself into.

"Sorry, but that was too funny. Oh jeez, your face was perfect," the blue hog said. "Look, what I'm trying to get at is that you don't have to be a righteous, heroic good guy. Just don't be a bad guy."

"Don't tell me what to do!" Scourge shouted. "I was a king. I don't need this crap."

"So you'd rather stay in jail? You're not making a whole lot of sense, Scourge."

"What, you expect me to just run off with the guys who locked me up here in the first place? To save the world, no less? It kind of goes against everything I know."

"But you're still considering it. There's obviously some part of you that wants to try teaming up with us."

"I... Just shut up a minute, okay?" the green hedgehog said, massaging his temples with one hand. Sonic nodded and took a few steps back, giving his counterpart some space.

_ 'Okay Scourge, let's think. What's the most logical thing to do?' _ The gears in his head were turning, determining a list of pros and cons to his current situation. It didn't take long to come to the conclusion that the most reasonable choice to make would be to go with Sonic. But then there was the matter of his ego, telling him not to give into the temptation, to avoid teaming up with his goody two shoes-self at all costs. He thought about it for a solid two or three minutes before asking, "If I help you out, you're not going to just ship me back here when the job's done?"

Sonic shrugged. "It all depends. I would prefer not to, but it really comes down to how big of a jerk you decide to be."

The green hedgehog gave a small nod and thought about it for another twenty seconds or so. He couldn't believe he was about to do this.

"I'll do it," the green hedgehog said eventually.

"What?"

"I'll help you out, alright?" Scourge hissed. "Just get me out of this place. You CAN get me out of here, can't you?"

"Zonic's working on that now," Sonic said. "When I came looking for you, he went off to talk to the Warden."

"Oh, I'm sure that's going swimmingly, especially with Sergeant Bonehead on the case."

"I think he's a Captain, actually," his good twin corrected him. He rolled his eyes.

"Like I care. Either way, I'm basically the Warden's 'trophy prisoner.' He won't let me go without a fight."

Sonic clicked his tongue. Scourge had a point. The blue one didn't know the Warden personally, but from what Zonic had said, AND the fact that Scourge hadn't escaped on his own yet, he could tell that the big boss around here was one tough cookie. "Well, Zonic's pretty tough, too. I'm sure he's figured something out by now. Come on, we should go check."

"How? What, you think by saying, 'I'm a big hero, Scourge is with me,' they'll just let me leave the rec yard?" Scourge asked. He lowered his voice to a harsh whisper. "FYI, I didn't even want to come out here in the first place. I was perfectly happy sitting alone in my cell, minding my own business, but nooo, if I'm scheduled for recess, I'm forced into recess."

Sonic whipped out an ID card, made of red and white plastic and with Zonic's picture printed on it. "Well, according to Z, this thing gives me all the authority he would have." He flashed a cheesy grin. "Holographic, ultra rare, limited edition."

The green hedgehog stared open-mouthed at the card Sonic held in his hand. "Get out of jail free card," he said in astonishment. His face lit up. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get me the hell out of here, scot-free! Chop chop, move it or lose it!" He took Sonic and shoved him towards the nearest exit excitedly. He was getting out of here, and he wasn't going to have to run from the cops to do it. Could this get any easier?

The two approached the guard standing by the rec yard's exit, and Sonic showed him the ID card. It was a pretty high-level card, so the guard took a few minutes to check if it was authentic. After asking for the fifth time, "and you're positive that the Captain gave it to you for this purpose?" he finally let them out of the rec yard and into the inner workings of the prison.

The hallway they entered into was made entirely of metal, with buzzing fluorescent lights affixed to the ceiling, large letters and numbers painted on the wall help identify which part of the prison one was in, and special walkways on the walls for the Zone Cops to walk on. The place seemed very dull, generally. If the whole prison was as plain as this one hallway, Sonic could easily understand why Scourge would want out. Who in their right mind would want to be trapped in this place?

"So... You wouldn't happen to know how to get to the Warden from here, would you?" Sonic asked nonchalantly, hands behind his head as he walked. Scourge rolled his eyes.

"Jeez, five minutes into this deal and I'm already saving your ass... Turn left here. This place is a freaking maze, I swear," his green counterpart complained. "Stupid Warden, dragging me down to his office every freaking week... And for what, to check on how my "rehabilitation" was going? What a load of bull that was."

"Okay, now you're hurting  _ your _ argument."

"Yeah, well trust me, if you were stuck in this place as long as me, you'd put the word rehabilitation in air quotes too. No, wait, it was- what did he call it?-  _ aggressive _ rehab. That was it." It made Scourge almost shiver just thinking about it. Having his quills shaved down (which, since done improperly, was quite painful) and being shoved into the same cell as a guy four times his size? The Warden had some funny ideas of good-ifying a guy, that was for sure.

The two hedgehogs walked past the entrance to another hallway, this one filled with super-thick doors. The doors had no windows or holes, and the corridor was eerily silent.

"Hey, what're those doors?" Sonic asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He knew Scourge wasn't a tour guide, by any means, but something about the area was giving him the creeps.

Scourge gulped. "Solitary," he said, and kept right on walking. Solitary confinement, where all the inmates who got a little too rowdy were ultimately taken.

"The way you've been talkin' about this place makes it sound like you would enjoy a bit of alone time," Sonic observed.

"That... that ain't your ordinary alone time, Blue. I've been in there before. Not fun." Scourge dragged his twin away from the hallway and back en route to the Warden's office. "Those rooms... They're almost entirely soundproof. Y'know, with foam padding they put on walls and ceilings to absorb vibrations and crap. You can yell at someone from ten feet away in there, an' it sounds like you're on the other end of a football field. It's so quiet, you can hear your organs working. They can only keep us in there twenty, thirty minutes at a time, because after that you start to go off the deep end." Sonic felt a shiver go down his spine. Aggressive rehabilitation was right. What the heck kind of a guy was this Warden anyway, that he would give something like that the a'ok?

"Well, that's... unnerving." the hero said, lowering his hands back down to his sides. He didn't like the idea of being able to hear the blood rushing through his own veins. That was just a little  _ too _ creepy for his tastes.

The rest of the trip down to the Warden's office was in relative silence. Sonic was still kind of off-put by the Warden's idea of what solitary confinement should be, and Scourge was busy trying not to get his hopes up too high about getting out of this place. He wanted to get out more than anything, but the Warden just  _ loved _ the fact that such a renowned criminal was stuck powerless in his jail. There was no way he would give Scourge up easily.

But on the other hand, the guy was all about reforming his prisoners into good people, and seemed hung up on Scourge's progress especially. The hedgehog, of course, barely cooperated when it came to informing the Warden about how good or bad he's been. But Scourge couldn't shake the feeling that the old man knew more than he let on.

He almost didn't realize it when they walked up to the Warden's office, too lost in his own world. He looked up just in time to see the door, and then came to a stop. "This is the place," he said somewhat glumly.

Sonic looked up at the door. It was turned sideways, meant more for Zone Cops to enter and exit than for people from other zones. There was a plaque on the door, and reading it caused the blue hedgehog's mouth to drop open. "Warden  _ Zobotnik?!" _ he gasped.

"What? Yeah, I thought you knew," Scourge said, raising an eyeridge.

"That an alternate version of Eggman was in charge? No, no one told me that," Sonic frowned. "That certainly explains a lot, though..."

"Yeah. And judging from all the shouting coming from inside there, I'd say he and Chrome Dome are duking it out the only way they know how." It was true- Zonic and Zobotnik could be heard yelling at each other from the other side of the door.

"We should probably get in there," Sonic said. He pulled out the ID card Zonic had lent him.

"Why bother?" Scourge said. He had his ear pressed to the door, and he was grinning. "This is great! I love hearing the Warden so pissed."

"Even when he's the only one who can authorize you to leave?"

"... We should get in there."

"My thoughts exactly." Sonic knocked on the door a few times before sliding the ID card through the electronic lock on the wall. The heavy metal door  _ swooshed _ open surprisingly quickly, revealing the room inside. The Warden's office was a large, oval-shaped room with an impressive view of the forests and lakes surrounding the prison. The sun was just about to set over the horizon, and the sunset could be seen from the large windows. Sonic was about to step into the room when Scourge stopped him. The room, being designed for No-Zoners, was completely sideways from their perspective. Meaning that the "floor" for them was a seven foot drop away. A precarious fall if you didn't see it coming.

Zonic and Zobotnik turned their heads to the door when it opened. Zobotnik looked, naturally, almost exactly like Dr. Eggman. The main difference was that Zobotnik didn't wear goggles on his head, and that his mustache was much shorter. The Warden cleared his throat and pressed a button on his desk. This caused a metal platform to rise out of the floor, giving the two newcomers a place to stand. They stepped onto the platform and entered the room, the door sliding shut behind them.

"Ah, Scourge! I was just about to send for you," Zobotnik said. The sound of his voice made Sonic frown. This guy was a little too similar to the doctor for his liking. "And you must be Sonic Prime. Pleased to make your acquaintance." He walked over to Sonic and extended a hand, which the Mobian reluctantly shook.

"Warden Zobotnik," he said, trying his best to be polite.

"So," Zonic said, stepping forward, "I take it Scourge wants to cooperate?" The green hedgehog nodded, but said nothing. If he said the wrong thing, he might not be let out. Best to keep quiet for the time being.

"Tell me again exactly  _ why _ you need Scourge released?" Zobotnik asked, his brow furrowed.

"The time stream in my Zone is currently falling apart...  _ sir," _ Sonic said, his arms folded over his bandaged chest. "I got hurt collecting one of the Chaos Emeralds, and... Well, I'd like some help making sure we can get the rest of them. My friends back home aren't able to lend a hand right now, so I had to think a little outside of the box."

"So I'll lend you a squadron of my men. There, problem solved."

"No offense, but I know Scourge's fighting style, I know what he's capable of, and I know he can keep up with me. Given that he cooperates, working with him would be more productive than working with strangers." Part of Sonic wondered just why he was even fighting to convince the Warden this was a good idea, but, well- he had to admit, he had a point. He and Scourge had very similar fighting styles, and had battled alongside each other a few times. Differences aside, they actually did make a good team.

Zobotnik stroked his mustache thoughtfully, deciding what to do. Scourge held his breath.  _ 'Let me go, let me go, let me go, come on you fat greasy geezer, let me out of here!' _

After what felt like an eternity, the Warden took his hand away from his face. "Okay," he said. The tension in the room immediately lifted. "I'll let Scourge out on probation. But if there are any, and I mean any problems-"

"Don't worry sir, I'll keep an eye on him," Zonic said, a small smirk on his face.

Zobotnik nodded and sat back down in his chair, rubbing his temples. "Good. Now get out of here before I change my mind."

"Yo, what about my stuff?" Scourge asked, tapping his foot on the platform. "I'm not leaving without my shades and my jacket."

"I'll send word down to processing to have your things prepared for you," the Warden said. "Once you gather your things, I want you to go right to Mobius Prime. Do you all understand?"

"Yessir!"

"Loud and clear."

"Yeah, yeah."

ooo

It wasn't long before Scourge was out of his standard orange prison jumpsuit and was back in his usual black leather jacket and red sunglasses. Just changing into his own clothes again made him feel great. Even though the bruises on his chest and legs were now visible for the world to see, and even though his inhibitor collar was still tight around his neck, he felt way better than he'd felt in a year. He could do without the collar though.

"I'll take it off you when we have work to do. Not a second before," Zonic said when asked to take the stupid collar off. He clipped a spatial stabilizer onto his wrist and opened up a portal with his belt, leading to Mobius.

"Come on, not even if I'm a good boy?" Scourge laughed.

"Just get in the portal," the cop groaned, shoving the green hog inside. Sonic followed, and Zonic brought up the rear, the portal closing up behind them. The other end of the portal led to the living room in the workshop. They emerged on the other side, finding the room to be empty. There were still embers glowing dimly in the fireplace from when Sonic and his past-self were warming themselves back up earlier.

"Jeez Blue, it's freezing in here. I thought it was summer!" Scourge complained. He zipped up his jacket.

"Yeah, well, take a look outside," Sonic said, pointing to a window. His blue-eyed twin sent him a confused look, but walked over to the window anyway. He parted the curtains and looked outside.

"Holy..." he muttered. The snow was almost two feet deep. And to someone who's not much taller than three feet, that was a lot of snow. "I see what you mean by time falling apart."

"Where is everyone?" Zonic asked, removing his helmet and looking around. "I wasn't exactly expecting a welcome party, but this place is dead silent."

"Yeah, I was wondering the same thing," Sonic said. "Little-Me knows I went to No-Zone though, so they wouldn't be out looking for me or anything..." He looked around. He had a feeling his past-self would be with Lil' T, so he wasn't worried about them. As to where Tails was, though, there was only one logical place. "Hang on, I have an idea. Follow me!" He led Scourge and Zonic through the house, eventually reaching the steps and going downstairs into the basement. Lo and behold, there was Tails, typing away at his computer. The powerful machine had the red Emerald hooked up to it, and a huge map of Mobius could be seen on the screen. Sonic knocked on the wall, catching the fox's attention. "Guess who's home! I got back and it was like everybody'd vanished," he said with a grin.

"Sonic!" Tails said in surprise, getting up from his seat. His eyes widened a bit when he saw Zonic standing with his older brother at the foot of his stairs, and then even more when he saw Scourge coming down the stairs just behind them. "Scourge!" the fox growled, ready for a fight. "I don't know how you got out of jail or what you're doing here, but if you-"

"Whoa whoa, Tails, hold up!" Sonic said, stepping in front of his younger brother with his arms outstretched. "He's with us, he's cool."

"Um, okay..." Tails eyed Scourge suspiciously. "Any particular reason why Scourge is with you? And... Zonic, right? I mean, I've never seen you without your helmet on before."

"It's good to see you again, Tails. It's been a while," the Zone Cop said, stepping forward to shake Tails' hand. "Sonic said things were getting a bit hot to handle around here, so we're here to lend a hand- Both of us are."

"But... Scourge?" the fox whispered skeptically. Scourge's ear twitched.

"I heard that," he said. Tails jumped. He didn't expect Scourge to say anything, and could feel his orange fur standing on end.

"Chillax bro, he can't hurt a fly," Sonic said with a cocky grin. He slapped the green hedgehog on the back. "Not with his inhibitor collar on, anyway!"

"I didn't come along so you could kick me while I'm down, you know," Scourge said, narrowing his eyes at Sonic. He didn't have to put up with this. He used to be a king, for Pete's sake. "I'm getting food." He turned and marched right back up the stairs, not looking back. The room went quiet for a moment, save for the occasional beeping of machinery. Maybe having Scourge on the team wasn't the brightest idea after all.

"What's his problem?" Tails wondered aloud, once he figured Scourge would be far enough away to be out of earshot.

"He had it rough in Zone Jail," Sonic replied, eyes stuck on the top of the stairs. "The guy was absolutely pathetic in there, I actually felt bad for him.”

"Is that why he's not in jail  _ now?" _

"Eh. Mainly because we couldn't find anyone else to help out on short notice. He'll come around. Hopefully."

"Sorry to change the subject," Zonic interrupted, "but where are the younger Sonic and Tails?"

Tails blinked at him, thinking for a moment. "I think they went outside. Little me was pretty adamant about going sledding today," he said. He moved back over to his computer while he talked.

"Sledding?" repeated Sonic. "The snow's as deep as they are tall!"

"Yeah, and you went snowboarding in an avalanche when you were barely older than your younger self. They'll be fine," the fox insisted.

Sonic tried to come up with some argument, but he couldn't think of anything. He laughed. "Haha, I guess you're right!"

Zonic walked over to the computer and gave the set-up a once over. It was certainly impressive. More advanced than the computer in his HQ in No Zone, and built in a basement. He noticed that the map on screen was of Mobius Prime. There were various red and green dots spread across the screen. "What're you doing?" he asked Tails.

"Scanning the planet for Chaos Emeralds," the young fox said. "All those red dots are possible hits, and the green dots are a 60 percent match to the Chaos Emerald's energy signature. By morning, I should have a few Emeralds located."

"Impressive work," the Zone Cop nodded. "You designed this program yourself?"

"I didn't have much of a choice in the matter, really. Eggman tries so often to get his hands on them, I had to make sure we could find the Emeralds first!" Tails scratched the back of his head. "It's no big deal, really."

Just then, a dull crash could be heard coming from upstairs. It sounded more like a  _ thud  _ or a  _ wham  _ than it sounded like anything breaking. Whatever it was, it would probably require some investigation anyway. "Man, what now?" Sonic sighed, running upstairs, Zonic and Tails close behind.

They went to the kitchen, where it sounded like the crash came from. Scourge was sitting on top of one of the counters, cookie hanging out of his mouth, holding his hands up in the air to show that he hadn't touched a thing. Instead, the sound had come from outside; the younger incarnations of Sonic and Tails came stumbling in through the workshop's back door, each one decked out in a half a ton of snow and coats that were way too big for them.

"Sonic, that's the last time I let you steer the sled," the younger Tails said, shaking the snow out of his twin tails.

"It's not my fault! That mountain came out of nowhere," the small hedgehog snapped back. "Lousy good-for-nothing ruins..."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to get all mad and throw the sled at the side of the workshop!"

"Man, I can't leave you two alone for five minutes, can I?" the older Sonic said, interrupting their fight.

"Oh, you're back!" Lil' T said happily. He quickly shrunk down and hid behind the younger hog, though. "Sonic threw the sled, not me, promise!"

"Thanks for sharing the blame, bud. You're the best friend I ever had," Lil' Sonic said, his voice completely deadpan. Tails just nodded, as if he had received a real compliment.

"Yep. That's you, alright," Scourge said, jumping down from the counter and stretching his arms above his head. He yawned, showing off his sharp teeth.

"And just who are you?" Mini-Sonic asked, tapping his foot impatiently (and getting snow all over the floor in the process). He almost didn't even notice Zonic; he thought he was still seeing double from the sled crash.

His older-self cleared his throat. "Well, this seems as good a time as any to do the introductions. Little Me, Lil' T, this is Scourge and Zonic. They're me, from other Zones. Scourge, Z, this is me and Tails, circa: eight years ago.”

"Whoa whoa, hold up," the younger Sonic said. "You're the sideways guy! From earlier today! You're- you're a-"

"I'm a Sonic, yes." Zonic grinned slightly. "Captain Zonic the Hedgehog, Zone Cop. It's nice to officially meet you two."

"And greenbean, he's a Sonic too?" Sonic asked, ever curious and/or suspicious.

Scourge pinched the bridge of his nose in annoyance. "No," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "I'm a Knuckles. Who do you  _ think _ I am?"

"Wow, rude much..." the younger hedgehog hissed under his breath as he took off the oversized coat he was wearing. Meanwhile, Lil' T was busy admiring Zonic's armor and gear.

"So you're like a... a space police officer?" the kit asked excitedly. "That's so awesome! That's gotta be the most way-past-cool job ever!"

The Zone Cop chuckled. "It's got its perks," he said, handing the fox his badge so he could look at it. The kid turned it around in his hand for a few seconds, admiring it, before something else caught his eye.

"Hey, what's this?" the young fox asked with wide eyes, grabbing at the silver bracelet around the officer's wrist.

"Wait!" Zonic gasped as Tails removed the bracelet. His altered gravitational field instantly gave out, and he tumbled sideways into the wall. He smacked into a picture frame, bruising his arm and knocking it to the ground.

"Whoa! You okay, dude?" the older Sonic asked, stooping to pick up the photo and placing it on the counter. Zonic huffed and got to his feet, standing on the wall.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said, rubbing his hand over his bicep where it made contact with the frame.

" _ The heck was that _ ?" Sonic's younger double demanded. "What is  _ up _ with the sideways thing?"

"My dimension, instead of being parallel to yours, is perpendicular."

"Fewer math words, please."

"My world is sideways," Zonic rolled his eyes. He snatched the bracelet back from the younger Tails. "This is a spatial stabilizer, it keeps me properly oriented when I'm in another Zone. Without it, I'm sideways. Got it?" He slipped the stabilizer onto his wrist and stepped down onto the floor.

Scourge scoffed. "You never needed one of those before."

"I need it if I'm going to be here for more than a day. Being sideways for that long is a pain, even with proper training."

"Seems like a cheap cop-out to me," the green one laughed.

"That's  _ enough _ , you guys," the older Sonic said, stepping between them. "I'd like to try to hold off on the fighting for as long as possible, okay?" He sighed. This was going to be one long adventure.

  
  



	12. Inhibition

He was walking down a long, almost impossibly long hallway. It was a fancy hallway, with marble floors, walls a deep red color, and golden chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The lighting was dim, and he was walking slowly- or running, he couldn’t tell. The end of the hallway wasn’t coming closer. He felt vulnerable and exposed. He didn’t like it. He thought he could feel someone following him, but whenever he turned around, there was no one there. He was all alone. At least, he was alone until he started walking again. Or running. He couldn’t tell.

After a while of traversing down the hallway, which was devoid of any doors or windows, he could have sworn that he’d started to hear something. It was very quiet, almost non-existent, but it sounded like a voice. A voice he knew, calling out his name. Only it wasn’t _his_ name, the one he’d given himself- it was his old name, the one he shared with thousands of others. “Sonic, Sonic…” the voice called out. He turned around. This time, there _was_ someone behind him, all the way at the other end of the impossibly long hallway. The someone was a royal blue hedgehog, older than him, with brown, styled bangs, dark eyes, and wearing an expensive-looking red cape. The older hedgehog was calling out, “Sonic, Sonic,” as blood dribbled from a small, round hole in his forehead.

Scourge shot awake, shivering and yet covered in sweat. His heart was racing, and his lungs were working overtime to supply it with oxygen. “What the hell…” he gasped, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. Was it all just a dream? It seemed plausible, but Scourge wasn’t the type of guy who dreamed very often, especially not that vividly. As cliché as it was, he pinched himself to make sure he was awake. The small spark of pain that shot up his arm told him that he was.

Scourge didn’t bother wondering about the contents of the dream, as that was the only dream he’d been having over the past few months. The talking and the figure in the distance were both relatively new, though, first appearing only three or four days prior. Scourge wasn’t sure who the mysterious figure at the hallway was, or why it was only appearing now; the figure was too far away to make out clearly, and never responded when Scourge asked it a question, only saying “Sonic, Sonic!”

He shook his head. He must’ve gotten a few screws knocked loose when he got his “birthday punches,” that had to be the cause of it. What else could it be? A sign? An omen? _Puh-lease._

_‘Speaking of birthday punches, this sure doesn’t look like Zone Jail,’_ he thought. He was sitting on a worn, yet comfortable couch. He was still wearing his golden inhibitor collar, though his ratty orange jumpsuit had been swapped out for his leather jacket. He looked around the room and caught a glimpse of a photo of Sonic and Tails hanging on the wall. _‘Sonic’s house.’_ The events of the previous day suddenly flooded his brain, having been previously suppressed by the aftermath of the weird dream.

Scourge was in Sonic the Hedgehog’s house. He was out of prison. He wasn’t going to spend the morning being thrown into the floor by his roommate, Smalls. He was sleeping on something other than bedsprings or cement. He could run out the front door and be free.

At least, he could if he weren’t still wearing the dreaded collar. He wouldn’t get far with it on, and even if he did, he suspected there was some sort of tracker in it.

Still, he had a hard time believing that he was, 1. out of Zone Jail and 2. in the house of his greatest enemy. He almost pinched himself a second time before he realized that he didn’t want to wake up from this dream and find himself back behind bars.

“Yo, Sleeping Beauty, you awake yet?” called Sonic from the kitchen. Nope, it wasn’t a dream. Scourge rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall and saw that it was almost noon. Whoops. He swung his legs over the edge of the couch, stretched his back, and got up. He shuffled, shoeless, into the kitchen, yawning.

“There you are!” Sonic smiled. He was sitting on the kitchen table, redoing the bandages around his chest. “I was wondering if you’d ever wake up.”

“Why didn’t you just wake me up yourself?”

“Figured you deserved a good night’s sleep for once. Plus, you were dreamin’ pretty hard there. I don’t think I could’ve woken you up if I tried… Oh, and I wasn’t too excited to see what you’re like in the mornings.”

Scourge shrugged and scratched his short, choppy quills. “Thought so.”

“To be honest, I thought you’d be grumpier.”

“Hey, Smalls hasn’t shown up and kicked the breakfast out of me yet, so it’s a good day.”

“Good to hear.” Sonic finished wrapping himself up and tied the ends of the bandages together to keep it tight. There was really no point to keeping his chest bandaged up at that point, but it make him feel a little better in a security blanket sort of way (though he’d never, ever admit it), and this way no one had to look at his bizarre injury. He got off the table and bounced on his toes to warm up his legs. “Tails should have the first few Emeralds pinpointed soon, so if you’re a breakfast kind of guy, I’d get on that.”

Just as he said this, the younger Tails flew through the room, the twelve-year-old Sonic at his heels. The two older hedgehogs swore they heard him say something along the lines of “now is not the time to goof around! Give me back my gloves!” as he blew through the kitchen. A few of the chairs and an open box of cereal were toppled over by the rush of wind. The older Sonic shook his head as he picked a chair up off the ground.

“This place wasn’t exactly made for six people,” he grunted as Zonic passed through, looking for his gun.

“I’ll say,” Scourge said in response. “Dude, don’t look at me, I didn’t touch the thing,” he told the cop, who went to look downstairs for his weapon. “Honestly, this place is crowded up the wazoo.” He watched his heroic counterpart stoop down low and clean up the spilled cereal.

A dull thud came from the living room.  _ “I’m okay!” _ Lil’ T said weakly.

Scourge rolled his eyes and walked over to the fridge. His bare feet padded uncomfortably over the cold tile floor. He glanced sideways out the window and saw almost nothing but white outside. It looked like it had stopped snowing, which was good. It was still freezing, though.

He pulled open the freezer and grabbed a box of frozen waffles. He got one out and shoved it in the toaster impatiently. Sighing, he hopped up and took a seat on the counter. What was he  _ doing _ here? Heating up an Eggo Waffle in his enemy’s house, getting ready to save Mobius? He should be trying to conquer Mobius, for crying out loud! That was what he tried to do the last time he was in the Prime Zone, anyway. He closed his eyes and took a breath. Scourge had to remind himself that he couldn’t conquer the place if it was wiped from the timeline.

He shouldn’t even be  _ thinking _ about taking over. This was his one chance to start over. He couldn’t blow it- at least, not yet. He would have to wait to decide what course of action to take, if he really wanted to go down this path or not.

He was deep in thought until his waffle popped out of the toaster with a loud  _ ding! _ causing him to jump. His train of thought sufficiently derailed; he plucked the waffle out of its slot and took a bite out of it. The foodstuff was burning hot, but it was without a doubt the tastiest thing that had passed through his mouth in ages.  _ ‘Yeah, I think I’ll play along for now. As long as I’m not eating prison food, I’ll play hero all day,’ _ he thought, savoring the taste.

Just then, Tails- the older one- burst in through the basement door with an excited look on his face and his handheld device, the Miles Electric, in his hands. “I got it!” he shouted, grabbing the attention of everyone in the house. “I found some Emeralds!” He placed the Miles Electric down on the kitchen table and pressed a few buttons on it, activating a hologram of Mobius. The projection of the planet was quite large and spun at a steady pace. Everyone who wasn’t already in the room filed in, the young Sonic tugging on one of his shoes as he did so.

“Emeralds?” he sputtered, fixing his sock. “Where?”

Tails highlighted three different areas on the holographic globe. One on Westside Island, one in the middle of the ocean, and one quite close by, in Station Square by the looks of it. “These are the three I’ve managed to track down so far; and it hasn’t been easy, let me tell you. Had to use both the Emeralds we already have, barely got any sleep last night-“

“Jus’ tell us where they are!” Lil’ T shouted, climbing up on one of the chairs in order to get a better look.

“Fine, fine,” the elder fox said with a huff. “Well, the one closest to here is Station Square. Its hard to tell where in Station Square exactly, the storm hasn’t been making that part easy. The other two were a little easier to find, but they’re pretty far. This one here,” he pointed to Westside Island, “is in the Mystic Caves, and this one,” he pointed to the blinking dot in the ocean, “is Metal Harbor, you know, GUN’s missile base.”

Scourge whistled, his interest piqued. “Missile base, huh?”

“Not today, hotshot,” the older of the two Sonics said. “I don’t think GUN wants you near their toys after what you tried to do the last time you were here.” Scourge merely grumbled in response.

“Speaking of which,” Zonic interjected, his arms crossed, “you’re sticking with me. I told the warden I’d keep a close eye on you, and I intend to keep my word.”

The green one feigned a look of betrayal. “But Helmet Head, you don’t trust me?” he asked, his voice unnaturally sweet-sounding. Zonic rolled his eyes, while the younger incarnations of Sonic and Tails sent each other confused glances.

“Well,” the older Tails said, “there are three Emeralds and six of us. We can split up into teams and get all three at once.”

“Divide and conquer. Sounds like a plan!” the smaller Sonic grinned. “How’re we splitting it up?”

“Let’s mix it up,” his older self said. “I’ll take little Tails, you take big Tails.”

Everyone seemed fine with this setup (except Scourge, who didn’t want to be stuck with Zonic), so they got to figuring out who would get which Emerald. Sonic and Lil’ T decided to go for the one in Mystic Caves. The other Sonic and Tails took Metal Harbor, and Scourge and Zonic got Station Square. Once everyone was finished getting ready and was fully awake, they prepared to leave. Tails and the younger Sonic took the Tornado after the younger hedgehog spindashed the runway clean. The other dynamic duo took off for the Mystic Caves through a portal opened up for them by Zonic. Once they were gone, the Zone Cop closed their portal and opened up a new one to Station Square.

“Wait,” Scourge said, grabbing Zonic’s arm as he went to step through the portal.

“What now?”

“You gonna take this collar off of me or what?” he pointed his thumb at the gold collar around his throat. “I’m not going to be able to do anything,  _ including  _ sensing the Emerald with this thing still on, genius.”

_ “Fine,” _ Zonic spat harshly, pulling a small key from his belt. “But if you give me  _ one _ reason to not trust you-“

“I got it, I got it. I’ll be a good boy.” At least, he would be until he came up with a half-decent escape plan. Zonic unlocked the collar and pulled it off of his neck. Scourge suddenly felt alive, like he had been sleepy for a whole year and was suddenly wide awake. His eyesight was sharper, his hearing clearer, and a massive weight had been lifted off his legs. It felt like he could finally breathe. He was himself again. He rubbed his neck. There was a sharp indent in his fur from where the collar had been.

The collar was now hooked on Zonic’s belt, ready to be pulled out and used again if the situation called for it. “There, happy now? Can we go?” the No Zoner asked impatiently.

“Definitely,” Scourge breathed. He was too distracted by how good he felt to remember that he could just run away from Zonic and never come back. He wanted to run, sure, but just for running’s sake.

The two hedgehogs stepped through the portal and landed on one of Station Square’s many snow-filled streets.  _ “Shit!!” _ Scourge yelped as he landed waist-deep in the snow. He had apparently been so caught up in his collar being taken off that he’d forgotten that there was snow outside. Zonic merely groaned, wondering how on Mobius he’d gotten himself stuck in this mess.

“Yes, its cold out. Can we get a move on?”

“Fine, fine…” Scourge grumbled, climbing out of the snow. The two started to trudge down the streets of the city, Zonic leading the way. The radar he had built into his gauntlet was calibrated to track Chaos Energy, so they followed the signal it was receiving and started making their way through Station Square.

ooo 

"The signal is coming from in here." Zonic took his helmet off and looked up at the tall tower in front of them, which would have been flashing with bright neon lights had the power not been out. The powerless sign above the entrance to the tower read TWINKLE PARK.

"Oh yeah, there's an Emerald in there, alright. I can feel it," Scourge said, taking note of the barely noticeable jitter of Chaos Energy floating in the air. He wasn't nearly as experienced with the Chaos Emeralds as Sonic was, but he could still sense one if it was close enough.

"Unfortunately," Zonic frowned, "my belt doesn't like Chaos Energy much. It got acclimated to the energy that the first two Emeralds were giving off, but this is new to it. It's not gonna let me teleport OR open up a portal if we're close to a new Emerald. And these doors look like they're frozen shut... We're going to have to find another way into the park."

"I can always spindash 'em open," Scourge suggested.

"Even if you did, the elevator isn't working, so we wouldn't be able to go anywhere. Besides, I'd prefer not to cause any collateral damage today if we can avoid it, thank you."

"Well, can we figure out another way in quickly? My spines are freezing off, here."

"Soooniiic!" came a sudden, high-pitched cry from behind them. Before they could react, a pair of arms snaked their way around the Zone Cop's neck, refusing to let go.

"What the?!" the No Zoner gasped, trying to turn his head around to see who his attacker was. As he turned to get a better look, his assailant leaned over his shoulder and planted a kiss right on his lips.

"Don't be so surprised, it's only your beautiful girlfriend Amy Rose, silly!" the kisser giggled. Zonic's face was turning as red as the girl's winter coat.

"A-Amy?" he stammered. He could hear Scourge cracking up on the sidelines. "I'm n-not... I-I mean, I know I l-look like-"

"A police officer? Oh Sonic, how'd you know I love a man in uniform?" the girl cooed. Scourge was rolling on the snowy ground, laughing so hard he could barely breathe. This caught Amy's eye, and she unlatched herself from the blue hedgehog and drew her hammer. "Scourge?! What's he doing here?" she asked, ready to attack the ex-king.

"He's with me," Zonic said, regaining his composure (though he was still red as a lobster). He flattened out the wrinkles in his uniform before whipping out a gold badge. "Captain Zonic the Hedgehog, NZPD. Scourge is... on probation. He's going to be doing a little community service with me today, isn't that right, Scourge?" He got no response, as the green hedgehog was still on the floor.

"But..." Amy turned her focus back to the officer. "You look exactly like Sonic! There's no way you can't be him!"

"Well, considering I'm an alternate version of Sonic, I should certainly hope I look like him. The Sonic you know is already in Mystic Caves by now, all the way on South Island."

"So you're not... And I just kissed... Ohmygosh I'm so sorry! I swear I only did it because I thought you were Sonic! Because, you know, he called yesterday and I told him I was stuck in the city helping people out with this stupid blizzard, and he sounded really disappointed when I told him I couldn't come, and I just- oh nevermind, forget it. I'm really sorry, I won't bother you anymore!" The pink girl bowed her head before turning to leave, embarrassed that she mistook someone else for her Sonic again.

"Actually, wait!" Zonic said after a few seconds. Amy came rushing back, batting her eyelids.

"Yes?" she asked sweetly. Zonic cleared his throat.

"Is there another way into Twinkle Park? We need to get in there, it's urgent."

"...Oh," the girl sounded a bit disappointed, but she quickly hid it. "Sure there is! There's a manhole downtown, in front of the book shop. The tunnel down there should lead you into the park." She said in a hushed voice, "But you didn't hear that from me!" She winked, making Zonic blush again. He picked up his helmet and placed it back on his head, letting the visor obscure his eyes.

"Right. Thank you Miss, we'll handle it from here. Stay safe with all this weird weather, okay? You never know when a branch could come down, or the snow could start up again. Scourge, get up, we're leaving." Scourge wiped a tear from his eye as he got to his feet.

"Yeah yeah, I'm coming. Thanks for that, Amy, I needed a laugh," he said, chuckling. The pink hedgehog scowled.

"Oh, I'll give you a laugh, alright," she growled under her breath, clutching her hammer tight. She swung her weapon around angrily, clipping the green one in the head. "That'll teach you to laugh at Amy Rose!"

ooo 

Scourge clutched his sore head as he and Zonic made their way through the underground tunnel leading to the park. He groaned.

"You just had to poke fun at her, didn't you?" Zonic sighed, scanning for Chaos readings with his gauntlet's built-in mini computer.

"I love how this is automatically my fault," the blue-eyed hedgehog muttered. "I'm just glad she didn't bust my shades."

"Oh, Chaos forbid she break your sunglasses." Zonic rolled his eyes. Why did he sign up for this, again?

"Can it, chrome dome. Or do the others have to hear about how you turned as red as Knuckles with a sunburn?"

"I-I did not!"

"Oho, yes you did. You got a crush on Amy or somethin'?"

Zonic's face started to turn red again under his helmet. "What? No, of course not!"

"Must be one of her look-alikes, then. What about the Amy from No-Zone?"

"No, I don't have a crush on Zamy. I barely even know her."

"So who is it then? Don't tell me she's from MY zone... Oh jeez, do you have a crush on Rosy? Seriously?"

"No!! Are you kidding? That girl gives me the creeps."

"Yeah, you're not alone there... That chick has issues."

"Agreed. Anyway, I was blushing because she caught me off-guard with that kiss, okay?" Zonic sighed. "Look, we're here, so let's just drop the conversation and focus on the task at hand."

"Finally!" Scourge cried with exasperation. "It reeks in here. I hate sewers, move it!" He shoved the Zone Cop out of the way and charged through the service door with a dimly lit red EXIT sign above it. He burst into the outside and immediately clenched his eyes shut, shielding them from the sudden bright sunlight. Zonic smirked, following the ex-con outside. He had no issue with the sunlight, thanks to his helmet's visor. The heat, however, was another story.

"Wow, I didn’t know that it's still summer in here," he said, taking a breath of hot, humid air. "Looks like this place was frozen a few days ago, and then with the snow, everyone just didn't notice it."

"Since when does snow take precedence over a theme park that's outside the time stream?" Scourge scoffed. "Mobians need to get their priorities straight."

"You should talk. I could say the same thing about Moebians. Come on, let's get going. I don't want to be here longer than I need to be." Zonic cut in front of him and took the lead, heading towards the center of the park. Scourge followed reluctantly, flipping his sunglasses down over his eyes. Now he was really glad Amy didn't break them with her hammer.

Twinkle Park, aside from a few people frozen in time along with it, was pretty empty. No music playing over the speakers, no sounds of water cascading down from fountains into pools, no screams as patrons rode roller coasters, no birds chirping as they flew by overhead. It was like a snapshot, save for the two similar-looking hedgehogs now exploring the thrill-filled playground.

"Creepy as hell in this place," Scourge grumbled, adjusting the sunglasses resting on his nose. "Especially during the day, I feel like the cops are gonna jump in and haul my ass outta here any second. Couldn't we have come when it's dark?"

The No-Zoner walking beside him looked up from his map of the park and raised an eye ridge at him from beneath his visor. "One: I am a cop, and you're not violating any laws by being here. It's not like we're here to enjoy the attractions anyway. Two: Time is frozen here. It won't get darker, no matter how long we wait."

The green hedgehog hmphed. "Killjoy," he said, raising his arms above his head and cracking his back. "And hey, I can't help but feel paranoid. I haven't been inside a theme park legally in my whole life. I'm not used to walking around in the open like this without a care in the world."

"See, the trick is coming here when time is in motion so you can actually ride the rides and whatnot."

"With other people? You gotta be joking." The Moebian laughed, baring his sharp teeth. He looked up at the medieval-themed decorations surrounding the two as they walked past. There were columns and castle spires cropping up everywhere, the pathways were all cobblestone, and employees were dressed up as squires and magicians and occasionally knights. "Huh, this place might even be cooler than my castle. Maybe."

"If I recall, it's not your castle anymore," Zonic said, removing the main part of his helmet and leaving only the detachable visor and earpiece. It was way too hot for his quills to be shoved inside a tight metal helmet. "Hey, Scourge, enlighten me. Why are you suddenly so willing to help us out? Because normally, you can't stand Sonic Prime or me."

Scourge's ears perked up at the unexpected question. "And why should I tell you that? It's my business, mind your own," he said, glaring sideways at the Zone Cop through his shades.

"Don't forget, you're not free yet, criminal. I can put that inhibitor collar back on you at any time." Zonic detached the collar in question from the back of his belt and swung it around his finger in a manner both playful and threatening.

"I’d like to see you try," Scourge said, scowling at Zonic and running ahead at full speed.

Zonic slapped himself on the forehead in frustration. "Whose idea was it to leave the con with supersonic speed in the hands of Slowpoke Jones the Zone Cop?" He huffed before he took after Scourge, turning off the safety on his laser pistol has he did so.

His boots clomped against the hard cobblestone at what felt like a dreadfully slow pace. He could barely see Scourge anymore, the evergreen speedster moving further and further away with every passing second. He ran straight up one of the park's towers and took a seat on its curved roof. _'He's waiting up? What a little show-off!'_ the Zone Cop thought.

He made his way to the base of the tower in about a minute, breathing hard but not panting by any means. He slipped off his spatial stabilizer for a moment, his body quickly reorienting itself to No Zone's sideways gravity. He took advantage of this, walking calmly straight up the side of the tower.

"Hey, look who decided to join us," Scourge smirked as Zonic climbed onto the roof of the tower. "Wow, you really are slow as molasses."

"Yeah, I'm not the only one," Zonic breathed, whipping out the inhibitor collar and affixing it to the blue-eyed one's neck before he even knew what was happening.

"W-what? Hey!" Scourge gasped, clawing at the device around his throat. He could practically feel his speed, agility, strength, everything being sapped away. "Get this thing off me!"

"Not until I'm confident that you won't run off," Zonic frowned. His face was dead serious. He wasn't about to take any more crap that day.

"But-"

"No buts. I'm the authority here, and what I say goes."

"Okay, Mr. Authority, how the hell am I gonna get down from here if I can't run or jump down? Hm?" Scourge asked, tapping his foot impatiently. Zonic thought about it for a minute. He had just ended up trapping Scourge on top of the tower, as there was no way the Zone Cop could carry him down. He growled in exasperation.

"Fine, but the next time you run off like that, I won't hesitate to shoot you, got it?" he said harshly, unlocking the collar and yanking it off.

"A bit hostile, are we?" Scourge grumbled, rubbing his neck. "It's not like I was trying to run away. I waited for you, didn't I?" He took a deep breath as he felt his super speed come back to him. He hated the Zone Cops' inhibitor collars with a passion. He shuddered just thinking about how weak they made him, how vulnerable he felt. It wasn't his favorite feeling in the world, that was for sure. He jumped down off of the tower and onto the ground, Zonic following close behind.

“Well it’s not like I don’t have my reasons for not trusting you,” the cop grunted as he landed back on the ground, turning his attention to the scanner in his gauntlet. He was really wishing that sensing Chaos Energies had been part of his training right about then. He grumbled to himself: "Okay, there's a signal coming from northeast of here... But that can't be right, we just came from there, didn't we? Jeez, this park is horribly designed."

“Hey, maybe you should just let me lead the way,” Scourge said with a shrug. “I mean, this is a lovely first date and all, very romantic, but you’ve just been sending us in circles. Not to mention the fact that, uh, I can actually sense Chaos Emeralds near by.” He shoved his hands into his pockets and scoffed under his breath. “Poser.”

Zonic did a double take. “Poser? I’m just as much a Sonic as you are- even more so, seeing as you’ve mutated!”

“You wish. I’m the Sonic the Hedgehog at his full potential. But you- do you even have any special abilities?”

“What?!” the No Zoner spat.

“Yeah! You can’t run, you can’t tap into Chaos Energies. You’re just a wannabe!” Scourge said, jamming a finger into the cop’s chestplate.

     “I’m a wannabe?” Zonic yelled back, taking a step forward. “I’d watch that mouth of yours, Snot, or maybe you’re forgetting who the hell convinced the warden to let you out on probation.”

“I knew you’d play that card, so predictable. Is that all you’ve got? Really?”

“You know what? Fine. Take the lead, I don’t even care.” Zonic grabbed a folded up park map from a nearby kiosk and shoved it at Scourge’s chest. “Take it, you navigate if you think you’ll be that much better at it.” The green hedgehog ripped it out of the officer’s hands, looked at it, and then shoved it right back.

“Forget it,” he said, scowling. “I don’t need your damn map, I’ll find the Emerald on my own. You got a problem with that, too bad.”

Zonic crossed his arms. “Yeah, not if I find it first.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“You could call it that, yeah. Whoever gets back here with the Chaos Emerald first wins.”

“Wins what, helmet head?”

“I dunno. Whatever you want, I don’t really care.”

“Alright. If I win, you have to do whatever I say for a whole day. Foot rubs, praise and worship, bowing down to me, the works,” Scourge said with a smirk. Zonic clicked his tongue.

“Okay. And if I win, you have to spend an entire day hanging out with Lil’ T,” the Zone Cop smirked back.

“What? No way, I don’t do kids.”

“I don’t do worship. We got a deal or not?” Zonic stuck out his hand, waiting for the Moebian to shake it. Scourge made a face before gripping the hand with his own.

“Deal. I hope you’re good at massages, sucker!” he said with a laugh before he sped off.


	13. Twinkle Park Panic

Zonic slapped his hand to his forehead moments after Scourge was out of sight. "What was I  _ thinking?!" _ he groaned, kicking a stray can on the sidewalk. "First of all, making a bet with that jerk. Second, letting him run off uninhibited when I can't even catch him! Dammit!" He wiped the sweat from his brow and looked around. Scourge was nowhere to be seen. It was no use trying to find him now. His best option was to look for the Chaos Emerald, and hope to meet Scourge there.

He looked at the radar built into his gauntlet. It wasn't the best at detecting and tracing Chaos Energy, but it was better at it than he was. There appeared to be more than one source of the energy, which was odd.  _ 'Don't the Chaos Emeralds spread out a lot when they scatter? Why would two end up here? Unless there's something wrong with my radar... Wouldn't be the first time.' _ Either way, he didn't have time to fuss around with his tech. He focused in on the stronger of the two signals and headed towards it, hoping to be successful in his Emerald hunt.

As he walked, he looked around at the scenery with interest. He was accustomed to the dreary, semi-apocalyptic views that his home Zone offered him on a daily basis. But Mobius Prime was colorful, filled with life and people. Even if Twinkle Park was stuck in a single point in time, he could still see peoples' smiling faces as he walked past. There were plants lining the many paths, large trees providing shade, and fountains spurting playfully in the plazas. He couldn't help but feel a little bit jealous. His entire planet was under siege, and had been that way for years. But Mobius was peaceful. Beautiful. It didn't feel fair. He didn't have time to worry about fairness, of course, but it still bugged him.

He passed at least a half a dozen rides before his radar started beeping at him. The Chaos Emerald- if it was even here- was dead ahead. The Zone Cop looked up. He could see a building about fifty feet away with a huge lit-up neon sign that said "Twinkle Kart." Time to get down to business.

He stepped through the sliding door and found himself in a dark hallway with no lights except for the floor, which was glowing a bright pink. The pink reminded him of Amy for a split second, his face going red, before he refocused. The hall was filled with people, none of them moving. They must've been waiting in line when time stopped.

Zonic gulped. What would happen if he touched one of them? Would he freeze, too? He really had no way to know, and he wasn't too keen to find out.

_ 'But everyone's standing so close together, there's no way I'm going to be able to squeeze through them. I'd have to be able to walk on the walls or something...'  _  He blinked.  _ 'Duh!' _  He pulled his spatial stabilizer off his wrist and jumped to the wall. He moved up to the ceiling and easily walked through the corridor, avoiding everybody. Once he got to the front of the line, he re-stabilized and jumped back down to the floor. There was another door here at the front, which he pushed open with his shoulder. He entered into a circular room, this one brightly lit with spotlights and neon. There were karts scattered throughout the place, each one floating a few inches off the ground. There was a large doorway at the far end of the room leading onto the track. According to Zonic's radar, the Emerald was down that way. 

He walked over to the track and looked down. Well, there was no way he was going to walk to the Emerald. There was a huge drop at the very start of the track, and lots of insane jumps interspersed throughout. He cursed under his breath.  _ 'Crazy thrill seekers...' _ He turned around and looked at the hoverkarts.

If the chief knew he'd abandoned his post to go go-karting on Mobius, she'd have his head. 

He picked out a kart, a bright red one with the number four on the back, and climbed into it. It looked simple enough to control. Steering wheel, gas, breaks, turbo. He only hoped that it would still work outside the time stream. He had his doubts, but it was his best shot at getting that Emerald. So, he hopefully put his foot on the gas.

Zonic nearly had a heart attack as the kart shot forward, rocketing onto the track and flying off of the first drop. He landed back on the track softly, thanks to the cushion of air underneath the kart. The Zone Cop was screaming and shouting obscenities the whole way. Once he calmed down, he took his foot off the gas, and the kart slowed down a little bit. He steered away from a ramp, not wanting to be airborne any more than was necessary. He came to a fairly level section of track, which meant he could finally slow down and look around for the Chaos Emerald. He pressed down on the brake pedal, slowing his vehicle down until it was only going about 10 miles per hour. He took a second to catch his breath. He totally didn't expect to be launched through the air like that. Unlike Sonic Prime, he didn't much like surprises.

He looked around the room, trying to see if the Chaos Emerald was close by. It was hard to tell though, since the track was the only thing that was well lit. It almost felt like the track was suspended in mid-air, as everything else was consumed by darkness. He couldn't see any magical glowing gem, so he pressed on, trying to go a  _ little _ slower this time. He swerved the kart around countless tight corners and jumps, though quite a few of the ramps were unavoidable, and sent him high into the air against his will. Fortunately, the kart handled much like a Zone Cop hover-transport, something he had plenty of practice with, and the winding nature of the track was reminiscent of the Cosmic Interstate (the place in between dimensions, connecting all different worlds to one another). Though, at least the track here was in tact. Many parts of the Interstate had been destroyed in the war between the Zone Cops and Doctor Nega. Zonic gripped the steering wheel tighter. If Nega dared try  _ anything _ while he was away in Mobius, he swore-

His radar started beeping rapidly, and he brought the kart to a stop. It was about time, too; he had almost run the whole course of the track, and he did NOT want to have to make a second lap. His stomach had done enough flips for now.

He hopped out of the vehicle and stepped onto the track. “Now, if I were an all-powerful, otherworldly, mythical gemstone, where would I be?” he wondered aloud, pacing up and down a small section of the track. He started to feel a slight tingling in his chest, almost like he was about to hiccup, only the hiccup never came. He frowned. “What…?” He slid his hand underneath his chestplate and tried to feel his heartbeat. He was able to locate it after a few seconds. It was strong- stronger than it usually was. It was odd; stronger, but not any faster than normal. The Zone Cop didn’t think it was something to worry about, but it was still curious nonetheless.

He took his hand off of his chest and looked around once more. Forgetting his heartbeat, the Emerald had to be around here somewhere. But where? He couldn’t see anything, and yet his radar wasn’t shutting up. Maybe it was faulty, and had been leading him on a wild goose chase the whole time.

Zonic sat down on the floor with a huff and leaned against the side of the hoverkart. Maybe he should’ve stayed at HQ after all. He was better at fighting than finding things. Finding things wasn’t his thing. He groaned and leaned his head back, looking up. His eyes shot open.

Directly twenty feet above him was the yellow Chaos Emerald.

He gaped at it in astonishment. He’d found it! Zonic, the slowpoke Zone Cop had found the Chaos Emerald. He couldn’t wait to wave it in Scourge’s face. Well, after he found a way to get it down, anyway. He wouldn’t be able to teleport or open up a portal to get to it, since none of his gear (save for the stuff Tails provided him) liked Chaos Energy much. It was a miracle his spatial stabilizer was unaffected. Speaking of the stabilizer, he thought about taking it off and walking up to the ceiling to get the Emerald, much like he’d done to avoid the line of people earlier. However, he soon realized that there was no wall on either side of him to walk up, as the track was suspended. This was certainly one heck of a pickle he was in. The only thing he had on hand to use was the hoverkart, and what good was that when he needed to get 20 feet in the air?

“Wait.” A lightbulb had just gone off in Zonic’s brain. He jumped back into the kart, put it in gear, and zoomed back the way he came.

He drove up the hill, a determined look in his eye. Reaching the top of the incline, he spun the steering wheel hard, turning the kart around 180 degrees. He was now high above the Emerald, looking down at it. There was a ramp halfway down the hill, which was hopefully placed in a position so that he could drive off it and shoot straight towards the Emerald. He pushed his visor down over his eyes and gripped the steering wheel tight. He took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth.

“Okay, let’s do this.”

He slammed his foot down on the gas, and the kart hit full speed almost immediately. He gritted his teeth as he tried keeping the vehicle on track. He’d have to hit the ramp dead-on if he wanted a chance to grab the Emerald. He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he hit the side of the jump. Flipping through the air and crashing violently at high speeds didn’t sound like a fun plan to him. So he focused on keeping the kart centered on the track as the ramp fast approached him. Before the No Zoner knew what was happening, he was flying through the air, having launched off the ramp like a rocket. He put his hand up into the air, level with the Emerald. Time seemed to slow down as he got closer- or maybe it really did slow down for a second, it was impossible to tell. His fingers brushed against the Chaos Emerald, pushing it out of its static position in the air and knocking it into his outstretched palm.

He didn’t have time to celebrate though. He needed to make it down to the ground without getting himself killed. His foot was still on the gas, so he would hit the track at a run. The floor grew closer and closer, and the hedgehog braced for impact. He squeezed his eyes shut as the kart hit the track, the cushion of air underneath it not enough to stop it from touching the ground. It thumped and skidded across the track before it crashed into the side wall with a _THUD_.

Zonic groaned and clutched his spinning head as he stumbled out of the kart. He stood still for a few seconds, trying to regain his balance. He blinked the stars out of his eyes and slowly sat down, once again leaning his back against the bright red kart. He held the yellow Chaos Emerald in both hands and smiled. He did it. He found one of the seven Emeralds, and he did it before Scourge did. He chuckled. Maybe he didn’t need speed to keep up with Sonic and the others, after all.

He turned the Emerald over in his hand and looked into its depths. He’d never held one before. It was strange- it seemed to thump in time with his heartbeat. _‘Is this why my heart was beating so strongly before?’_ Zonic wondered. _‘Because the Emerald was close by?’_ He placed the Emerald up against his chest. Besides his slightly elevated heartbeat, he didn’t feel a thing. He frowned. _‘Scourge could sense this thing from outside the park… And he’s barely in tune with the Emeralds compared to Sonic. But here I am, with the thing right over my heart, and I can hardly feel anything…’_ Maybe he was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t as good as Sonic after all. Maybe he really was just a poser.

Speaking of Scourge, where was he? He definitely should have shown up by then. “Dammit… If he ran off, I’m going to kill him so hard…” Zonic growled as he got to his feet. He hated being a babysitter.

His hoverkart was effectively totaled, so he wouldn’t be riding it to the finish line. Thankfully, the exit didn’t look too far away, and there weren’t any insane slopes or jumps to conquer. He walked out of the building without a problem, and stepped back into the stale, sun-baked air. He didn’t see a sign of the green hedgehog anywhere. If Scourge wasn’t here, looking for the Emerald, where would he be? He surely must’ve sensed the energy coming off of the thing.

“Unless he was sensing the energy of something else.” Zonic looked down at the radar on his wrist. There had been _two_ energy signatures- Zonic had followed the stronger of the two, but it was possible that Scourge had followed the weaker. He pinpointed the location of the weaker energy signal and started toward it at a run. He could only hope that Scourge was there, or else he’d have a real problem on his hands.

Scourge couldn’t help but laugh out loud as he ran through the park. He was feeling great. He had finally ditched Naggy McBossypants, he could run for the second time in over a year, and he was bound to find the Chaos Emerald first, no problem. This was turning out to be a pretty good day.

He skidded to a stop and looked around. He plucked a churro from the hand of a non-moving child and took a bite of the cinnamony snack. It was still warm, even though it had been there for at least a day and a half. _ ‘Well, if I had to say one thing about Mobius Prime, the food ain’t half bad,’ _ he thought with a smile. _ ‘Now, if I were an all-powerful mass of Chaos energy, where would I be hiding…’ _  Scourge closed his eyes and focused, trying to feel the gentle tug of the Chaos Emerald’s power. He could sense the familiar energy practically licking at him, drawing him near. His eyes shot open and he looked to his left. There was a large drawbridge in front of him, leading inside a dark castle which probably held a park attraction inside. There was a lot of energy coming from inside, that was for sure. The green hedgehog smirked as he walked in. He could feel that foot rub already.

The door shut behind Scourge as he entered the castle. He spun around in surprise and slammed his gloved hands on the wooden door. He tried to push it open again, to no avail. He huffed frustratedly and pushed his sunglasses up to the top of his head. "Looks like the only way to go is forward," he muttered to himself before turning around again.

The room's lights suddenly kicked in, assaulting the hedgehog's ice blue eyes with brightness. He instinctively squinted and raised his hands up to block the light. Once his eyes adjusted, he opened them slowly and dropped his arms to his sides. Strangely enough, he opened his eyes, only to come face to face with Sonic Prime.

"Whoa!" Scourge yelped, taking a step back. Once he realized who it was, he took a deep breath and clutched his chest, Sonic doing the same. "Jeez, Blue, don't do that, I came this close to spin-dashing you," the green hedgehog said. The blue one said nothing, he just copied the Moebian's movements. Scourge raised an eyeridge. Sonic copied simultaneously. They both took a step towards each other. Each one reached a tentative hand out towards the other, but when their fingers were about to meet, Scourge's hand only brushed against glass. A mirror.

His eyes went wide, and he quickly pulled away from the glass. If this was just a mirror, why did the reflection look like Sonic, and not him? That was impossible. Unless... He looked down at himself to check and see if he suddenly looked just like Mobius' hero. He didn't.

"Okay, what the hell..." he whispered. He looked back up at the mirror and instead of Sonic, he saw himself, like he normally would have. "This is a little too weird for me. I'm out." He turned around, expecting to see the door, but only saw more mirrors; each of which reflecting an image of himself back to him. He blinked. He could have _sworn_ that reflection was wearing red sneakers a second ago. He looked all around, seeing only more and more mirrors, and more reflections. And each reflection, for a split second, looked precisely like Sonic.

"Okay helmet head, this is a clever little prank you're playing, now cut it out! The joke's over!" Scourge called out, fists balled. There was no response save for his own echo. The sound waves reverberated off of the mirrors and made his ears ring. He frowned. If the Zone Cop wasn't behind the weird mirrors, who, or what, was? As far as he knew, he and Zonic were the only two in the park who weren't frozen. Just what was going on?

He shook his head, trying to ignore the mirrors. He had a Chaos Emerald to find, after all. He turned to his right and started down a narrow hallway, also lined with mirrors. His reflections walked alongside him as he made his way down the corridor, which only served to freak him out more. He could practically see the smug looks on their faces, and they seemed to walk with more confidence than him as well, even though they copied his movements perfectly. But they couldn't be any different than him, could they? They were just reflections. His mind must have been playing tricks on him, that must've been it.

The hallway twisted and turned, even doubling back on itself a few times. Scourge tried to get his bearings straight, but it was nearly impossible. He could barely tell which way was forward with all of the mirrored walls. More than once he tried to turn a corner, only to find that there was no corner to turn, and he walked right into a wall.

“Great. This place  _ would _ be a huge mirror maze,” he said, bumping into another one of the mirrors. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on the Chaos Energy again. It took him a couple seconds to concentrate, but once he did, he felt the energy faintly pulling on him from all directions, as if it were everywhere and nowhere all at once. He rubbed his eyes through closed lids. He didn’t like this. He didn't feel any closer to the Chaos Emerald- in fact, he felt further away than he did when he was outside. But it had to be there, or else why would all this energy be in the air?

“Unless it's got something to do with all the mirrors,” he said, opening up his eyes and staring right into the face of his reflection. "The energy could be bouncing off them. Making it look like there's more energy here than there actually is. Sneaky." He scowled at the reflective glass in front of his face. Only, his reflection didn’t scowl back. The image smiled instead. Scourge stumbled backwards in surprise, backing into another mirror. He flipped his head around to look at it, seeing not himself, but Sonic again. The false reflection in this one was smiling at him too, and not even bothering to copy his movements. The mirrors next to that one were all the same; instead of echoing Scourge's visage back to him, they showed images of Sonic.

“Ugh! What the hell with all these stupid mirrors?! You’re not my reflection, so what are you?” he shouted, getting ready to smash some glass.

“But we are your reflection, Sonic,” the reflections said calmly. Scourge froze, tensing up. All the fake Sonics had just talked to him. But... that couldn't be right. That was impossible, mirrors couldn't talk. He felt the fur at the back of his neck bristle, and his quills stood on end. Something told him that this wasn’t part of Twinkle Park’s weird attractions.

“My name’s not Sonic," the green hedgehog said, his voice low in his throat.

“Please,” the reflections said, all smirking. “Just because you don’t go by that name anymore doesn’t mean it’s not your name, Sonic.”

“Stop calling me that!” the Moebian swung his fist at the first mirror he saw, cracking it and sending shards of glass falling to the ground. “What are you, and what do you want from me?!”

“We told you, we are your reflection,” the images said, completely unfazed by the shattering of the mirror. “We are what you aspire to be, truly, in your heart.”

“I do NOT want to be Mr. Bigshot Hero!” Scourge smashed another mirror, the shards slicing into his glove. He thought he felt some poke through his skin, but he couldn't be bothered to care. He wanted to know what the heck was going on, and he wanted to know now.

“You wish for Sonic’s friends, the respect he gets, his freedom. You’re tired of everyone hating you. You want to be accepted.”

“Shut up!” More mirrors were mercilessly smashed. Pieces of glass now littered the floor, and Scourge was breathing heavily. “You’re full of crap, you know that? So Blue’s got a good deal going on here, whatever. It doesn’t mean I want to have all that. I’m not Sonic the Hedgehog, and I don’t want to be! I'm my own person, I'm not just his 'evil twin' anymore.”

“But you said yourself, you are Sonic the Hedgehog at his full potential,” the reflections said. Scourge busted several more mirrors, leaving only one left in his line of sight. “And yet, you’re so jealous of him!” the reflection said. Even though it was just the one image, it sounded as if a thousand mirrors were saying the words. The voices bounced around in his skull, practically penetrating into his brain and making his head hurt.

“No! Leave me alone!” The green hedgehog clenched his eyes shut and gripped the short furs on top of his head. The reflections had to be a fake, some sort of trick. They weren't real, and neither were their words. They were lying, they weren't real, it wasn't true. He didn't want to be Sonic. Right?

“Leave you alone? But, Sonic, you ARE alone,” said the voices. Silence filled the maze once their echo dissipated. Scourge cracked an eye open and glanced down at the broken mirrors at his feet. They all showed his reflection- his green fur, his sunglasses, his own, icy blue eyes looking back at him. Not some impostor’s. Not Sonic's. He breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh man, what the hell was that…?” He took several deep breaths in through his nose, exhaling through his mouth. That had been an unsettling experience, to say the least. He would need to calm himself down before finding his way out of the maze. He sank to the ground, pulling his leather jacket close around his body. He sighed shakily. Either he was in some really convincing haunted house, or he was going actually insane. There was no way that all that had been part of time crumbling. That was straight-up freaky. And the things that the reflections said... He didn't want to be just like Sonic deep down, did he? He wasn't THAT jealous, was he?

_'I mean, yeah, having some allies would be nice. Maybe friends, even. But I don't want to be the big hero. That's just not me, not my style. I'm not Sonic.'_ He rubbed his temples. _'But I don't really feel like I’m a criminal either, not after Zone Jail... Crap, I barely know who I am anymore. I'm a wreck, huh?'_ He picked up a mirror shard from the floor and inspected it. He caught a glimpse of blue fur through the reflection, and he hurriedly threw it away. "Chaos, not again," he breathed nervously.

"Scourge?" came a voice from behind him. The Moebian jumped and turned around.

"Zonic? Oh jeez, don't sneak up on me like that, dammit." He slipped his sunglasses over his eyes and got to his feet.

"What happened in here?" The Zone Cop looked around the busted hallway and kicked aside a shard of glass. "Are you- Wait. Did you just call me by my actual name?"

"What? Yeah, I guess. Why?"

"You never actually called me by my name before. Always 'helmet head' or ‘chrome dome’ or 'Mr. Pole-Up-His-Butt'. Anyway, are you okay?"

"... Yeah, yeah, great. Just needed to release some steam, is all," Scourge said, scratching the back of his head nonchalantly, as if he smashed mirrors every day.

"Right," Zonic said, unconvinced.

"So what are you doing here? Couldn't find the Emerald, huh?"

"Nice try kid." The No-Zoner pulled out the yellow Chaos Emerald, the gem shimmering in the artificial lights. "Looks like Lil’ T gets to have a playdate when we get back."

"Gods, don't freaking remind me," the green one groaned. "Let's just get out of this place. I'm starved." Of course, he wasn't really hungry, the churro he ate before having filled him up. He just wanted to get away from Twinkle Park as soon as possible.

"Maybe you should have stuck with me, then. I grabbed a chili dog on my way over here. It wasn't half bad," Zonic said with a triumphant smirk. "Oh, or am I not allowed to have chili dogs because I'm just a Sonic-faker?"

"You're not going to shut up about that until I apologize, will you?" Scourge asked tiredly as they started down the hallway of broken mirrors.

"Nah, I'll let it go. I've been thinking about it, and it was sort of true, what you said."

"What?"

"It's what us No-Zoners are taught all our lives, that we're more or less just copies of our Prime Selves. I just never really liked that fact much, and hearing it come from your mouth just made me dislike it even more."

"So that's why you flipped out. Heh. Well that's a depressing thing to tell to little kids, don't you think?"

"Maybe, but its how I grew up." Zonic shrugged. "Like your childhood was any happier."

"Are you kidding me?" Scourge crossed his arms. "Don't talk to me about childhoods. Yours was a frolic through a candy store compared to mine. I don't even have to know what it was like to know that you were better off than I was."

Zonic considered protesting, but decided it would be best not to. He knew Scourge's history, and it was sure to be a touchy subject- much like his own life when he was younger. Besides, the green hedgehog already looked troubled enough (though by what, Zonic had no clue) and the Zone Cop didn't feel like putting up with an enraged Moebian at the moment.

They turned a corner, entering a hallway where the mirrors were still all intact. Scourge gripped the ends of the sleeves of his jacket, but otherwise made no outward signs of discomfort. He glanced hesitantly at the mirrors lining the hallway, relieved to see that his reflection was his own. But this time, there was something else peculiar about the reflections that he neglected to notice.

Zonic looked over at the mirror and noticed a fraction of a second too late. The floor in front of the two hedgehogs looked completely normal, but the reflection told another story entirely.

The mirror showed that there was no floor in front of them at all.

"Look out!!" the Zone Cop cried, reaching to drag Scourge away from the invisible ledge. Unfortunately, he was too slow. The green one had already stepped across the threshold, and his center of gravity was now right over the pit. He looked back at the No-Zoner just as his foot slipped through the mirage floor. The world suddenly falling out from underneath him, he plummeted, and tried to grab onto the closest object to keep himself from falling down the hole. Of course, the closest thing to him was Zonic, who tumbled down with him, the two yelling and cursing all the way down.

They fell down the shaft for several seconds before it started to curve underneath them, turning into some sort of slide. They went from a completely vertical fall to an angled one, twisting, turning, and dipping at high speeds as they slid down the slope. Scourge screamed for someone to "stop this crazy thing!" just as the slide started turning in a large spiral. Zonic flipped his visor up above his eyes. If he was going to be sick, he would rather not experience it with a closed helmet.

After what felt like forever, the slide ended, dumping the two unceremoniously into some sort of car. They landed in a pile of limbs, spines, and mumbled curse words, quickly trying to get off each other.

"Ugh... You okay?" Zonic asked, straightening his visor on his head. Scourge dusted off his jacket and picked up his sunglasses, which had come flying off during the ride.

"Well, aside from the skidmarks on my butt and the bruises I will most definitely have in the morning, I'll live. You have the Chaos Emerald?" he asked.

"Yeah, I got it right here," the Zone Cop said, holding it up. "I'm fine, by the way. Thanks for asking."

They finally managed to get themselves untangled from one another and looked around curiously. Scourge fiddled with the cuff on one of his gloves, which became lopsided during the fall. "Man, the hell kind of amusement park is this? They should'a named it Deathtrap Park, if you ask me."

Zonic nodded, glancing around the room they were in. "I wonder where that thing dumped us off?" he pondered aloud. The car they were dropped in was metallic, with a vinyl-covered bench in it for sitting. The car also had two rocket boosters on either side of it, making the Zone Cop wary. There were many more of these cars lined up behind them in a single file. In front of them were what appeared to be metal tracks leading outside.

"What is this, a rollercoaster?" Scourge asked, eyeing the rocket boosters.

"Of course, because two heart attacks today weren't enough," Zonic said, getting up to climb out of the car. As soon as he did so, the train lurched forward, sending him stumbling backwards into his seat. "How are all these rides working? Time is supposed to be stopped!"

Scourge tapped him on his shoulder guard. "Yo, Zone Chump, you're gonna want to get a look at this." Zonic turned around to face the back of the train. Large, purple and black monsters were falling out of holes in the ceiling, just as the two hedgehogs had, and landing in the cars behind them.

"Think these are the monsters that Sonic was talking about?" the green hedgehog said, standing up in his seat and grinning. He could use a good fight right about now.

"Fight first, ask questions later," Zonic said, flipping his visor down over his eyes and yanking out his laser pistol. He turned so that he was crouched behind the seat, using the back of the car as cover. The train lurched forward again, and the rocket boosters on all of the cars ignited. An automated voice came on over the loudspeaker, telling the riders to keep all limbs inside the car, and to "get ready for Storm Rush!" The two hedgehogs held on tight as the coaster took off, the rockets increasing its speed exponentially. The car soared up the first hill without any regard for what its passengers were up to.

"Keep all hands and feet inside the car, he says," Scourge laughed. He stood up on the back of the seat, the train travelling almost vertically up the track. The monsters in the back started to make their way forward, climbing up the cars like a ladder. Zonic took a second to aim before he shot one of them straight in the chest, sending it falling off the car. It took down another monster with it as it fell off the coaster and to the ground. Scourge was readying to make a move of his own when the coaster came to the top of the hill and started to descend at a sharp angle. He gripped the back of the car to keep from flying off the side.

"Should've kept your hands and feet inside the car!" Zonic shouted above the wind rushing by.

"Can it, Chrome Dome!" yelled the green one. He started climbing up the line of cars, holding on extra tight whenever the train went through a turn. "If there's a loop in this ride, I'm gonna kill you guys for bustin' me out of jail in the first place!" he exclaimed, but Zonic didn't hear him. The cop was too busy trying to aim his pistol, not hit Scourge, and keep from falling off the rollercoaster.

The coaster suddenly lurched upward again, sending the Moebian falling down on top of a monster's head. He quickly grabbed a hold of the safety bar on one of the cars above him and kicked the monster repeatedly on the skull until it was knocked off the ride. He saw a well-placed energy blast from Zonic whiz by and take out another beast.

The train started to descend in a tight spiral, making it hard for the green hedgehog to get a good footing and not fly off the side because of the increased g-forces. He managed to stand up on the inside of the car, even though it was sideways. The other monsters on the ride weren't as nimble, however, and were still flailing about, holding on to the lap bars that would go over a rider's legs. Scourge smirked. He jumped, quickly spinning into a ball and slamming into one of the beasts with an effective homing attack. The creature was effectively stunned, so it was no problem for the Moebian to kick it off of the coaster. The train then came out of the spiral, shifting from being on its side to facing right side up. The two hedgehogs adjusted accordingly, realizing now why not many fights tended to take place on rollercoasters. It was exhausting.

As the coaster went into a series of smaller climbs and dips, Scourge homing attacked a couple more monsters. He landed on the edge of one of the cars, placing one foot on the front edge and the other on the back edge for balance. It was like he was surfing, only his surfboard was two inch-thick pieces of metal, he was going at around 60 miles per hour, and he was riding backwards. He eyed the remaining five or so monsters, preparing to give them all a taste of his boot. However, the train suddenly lurched to the left without him expecting it, and he tumbled right into the car. He landed on the floor of the car, with a bump on his head from hitting the side wall. He saw darkness clouding his vision as his head throbbed dangerously. The vibrations of the coaster rattled his brain and were giving him a major headache. He needed to get himself upright, if only to make himself more comfortable if/when he passed out. He could feel something warm trickle down the side of his face. Great, he was bleeding. He was bleeding and slipping into unconsciousness in the bottom of a rollercoaster car. _’At least this is more exciting that bleeding and slipping into unconsciousness in the Rec Yard in Zone Jail,_ ' he thought bitterly.

He struggled to stay awake as he got jostled around by the movements of the ride and his vision grew darker. He thought he saw something bright fly by overhead, and he squinted to protect his eyes.

He wasn't sure how much time passed, but the rollercoaster was slowing to a stop. Finally, with the constant movement and jostling around now over, he could try and get up. He gripped the car's lap bar with one hand and the back of the seat with the other and pulled himself into an upright seated position. His head was spinning, his vision blurred, and his hearing foggy. As the train came to a stop, he wiped some of the blood off of his head. There was a good amount of it, but luckily not enough to cause him to pass out.

"Hey! What happened?" Zonic shouted, jumping from car to car to reach his fallen ally. Scourge cringed and flattened his ears to his head, the Zone Cop's voice hurting his head.

"Didn't see that the rollercoaster was turning... Lost my balance and fell in. Hit my head," he said, rubbing his eyes. "Probably concussed."

"Well, at least you're awake and talking. That's a good sign," Zonic said sternly. He tilted Scourge's head up towards him. The Moebian didn't protest. "Pupils are dilated... You feel dizzy?"

"Very."

"Okay, I think we can confirm you have a concussion. Probably not too serious, you just got knocked around a little. I'm more concerned about the bleeding."

"I can handle it," Scourge grunted. He held his hand to his forehead, trying to stop the bleeding with his glove. He got to his feet slowly, reluctantly accepting help from Zonic. "So why'd we stop, anyway?" he asked.

"Once you fell down, I got a clear shot at those monsters, and I took the rest of them out. With them gone, I guess the coaster fell back into the whole 'frozen in time' routine and stopped." The No-Zoner re-holstered his pistol and huffed. "So those things can definitely alter the flow of time. That's good to know."

"Lovely. Why don't we get the hell out of here before they come back, eh? I got my fill of fighting for the day," Scourge said, rolling one shoulder.

Zonic nodded. “I’m with you,” he said. “Let’s blow this joint.”


	14. Metal Harbor Meltdown

Meanwhile, high above the surface of the planet, Tails piloted the Tornado westward, towards the ocean, while the younger incarnation of Sonic stood atop the biplane’s wing. Clouds floated lazily above them as they watched the countryside race by. They’d just exited the winter’s sphere of influence and were finally starting to warm up.

“Well, it’s about time!” Sonic cried through chattering teeth. He was rubbing his hands over his bare, goosebump-covered arms to try and warm them up. “Lousy cold…”

“Dress warmer next time,” Tails said with a chuckle. He had a scarf wrapped around his neck, and he was well protected from the wind by the walls of the cockpit.

“Says the guy who’s nice and cozy, protected by all that fur…” the hedgehog mumbled. He looked out at the horizon and saw the ocean approaching. A little bubble of fear formed in his mind at the idea of being over open water, but he pushed it aside. _His_ Tails was a great pilot, and he didn’t doubt that the older Tails was even better. There was no way his bro would let him fall off. And besides, he would need to focus if he wanted to find the Chaos Emerald before anything else went majorly wrong. He frowned. Speaking of things that went majorly wrong…

“Hey, Tails,” he said, turning his head back to look at the pilot. “That green dude, Scourge. What’s his deal?”

“Oh, him? It’s… it’s kind of complicated.”

“I think I can keep up.”

“Alright then. Spoiler alert, you and Scourge go a few years back, so if you want the whole story, I’ll have to tell you some stuff about your future.”

“Like I don’t know my future anyway. Just spill it.”

“Okay, okay! Well…” Tails tried to think of where to start. “Scourge isn’t just some random, run-of-the-mill alternate-universe Sonic. The world he comes from is almost an exact opposite of ours, the Anti-Mobius. Or, Moebius, as a lot of people call it these days.”

“So, wait a minute, you’re saying he’s the _anti-me?”_  Sonic gasped, turning around fully. “Doesn’t that make him evil? Why are we trusting him, then?!”

“I’m not exactly sure, to be honest with you. I didn’t make the call to bring him in, that was all Zonic and your older-self. You’ll have to ask them why he’s here,” Tails said, flicking a few of the switches on the dashboard in front of him. “Hold on, we’re about to hit some rough winds.”

Sonic nodded and planted his feet more firmly on the Tornado’s wing. They were nearing the beach, and would soon be over the ocean. “So, I’ll skip to the obvious question: _Why_ is the guy _green?”_

“Um… I think he was trying to go Super with the Master Emerald, but the transformation got interrupted when Knuckles found him and punched him in the chest,” the fox explained.

“Oh, so that’s where he got the scars from?”

“Right. So the transformation stopped halfway, he turned green, and he started trying to prove he wasn’t just some knock-off Sonic. So, to prove himself, he thought it’d be a good idea to conquer his planet. But when he came to _our_ world and tried to gain a foothold here, Sonic- um, future you, I guess- took him down and sent him packing to Zone Jail, the prison in No Zone.” Tails caught the confused look on the hedgehog’s face. “Zonic’s home zone,” he clarified.

“Ah. And then what happened?” Sonic asked.

“Then… nothing. Scourge has been in jail ever since.”

“So they got him _out of jail_ ,” the young hedgehog said. “Again. Why are we trusting him?!”

Tails sighed, seeming frustrated. “I dunno. Maybe he really does want to change. I mean, I’ve heard some nasty things about Zone Jail, and with the inhibitor collar he has on, taking away his speed… that would have been tough for him. But…”

“But what?”

“Sonic, you always try to find the good in people. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but the older you _really_ wants to see the good in Scourge. I’m just worried he’s seeing good where there might not be any.”

That made Sonic think. He looked out at the horizon with stormy eyes. Who would he trust? His gut was telling him not to trust Scourge in the slightest. But the older Sonic, the older _him_ , had known Scourge for a few years. He’d met with him in Zone Jail. His older self knew more than him, had more experience with people. If anyone could read Scourge, it was him. But what if Tails was right, and his future’s perception was clouded? What if he was just seeing what he wanted to see? He and Scourge were almost the same person, after all. If there was even just  a shred of good in the green one, the older Sonic would probably latch onto that sliver as hard as he could.

The small hedgehog grunted and put his hands on his hips. “Well,” he started, grabbing Tails’ attention, “older-me can believe whatever he wants to believe. I’m gonna decide on my own whether or not to trust Mr. Grinch.”

“Sounds like a plan,” laughed Tails. “If he does really want to be good, though… I wonder why he decided to change. He used to be _really_ gung-ho on the whole badguy thing.”

“My guess is as good as yours,” Sonic sighed, lacing his fingers behind his head. He usually tried _not_ to team up with folks he knew nothing about, so this was new to him. In addition to everything else that was new to him, that was. Sometimes he had to remind himself that he was a whole eight years in the future. He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that he and Tails would apparently have a legitimate house, that he would eventually have to battle powerful gods and monsters- heck, he couldn’t believe that TVs were so skinny nowadays. But time travel, he knew he could handle. He’d done it before, and he had a feeling he’d do it again.  The concept wasn’t new to him. Alternate worlds, alternate Sonics? That was certainly trickier. There were currently _four_ of him running around on the planet. How many other Sonics were out there? There could be hundreds- _thousands._ His head started to hurt just thinking about it. He wondered what other worlds were out there. Scourge was from an opposite world where everyone normally good was bad, and that Zone Cop guy, Zonic, came from some weird sideways world called “No Zone”. What was even up with that? How did he even get a crazy gig like ‘Zone Cop?’ The guy never explained. Sonic opened his mouth to ask Tails if he knew anything about it, but the older fox suddenly spoke up.

“Hey, we’re gonna be there soon,” he said. “See? You can see it on the horizon.”

The hedgehog leaned forward and shielded his eyes from the sun using his hand. He _could_ see something in the distance, a few bumps on the otherwise flat horizon, but they were still a few miles away. He wouldn’t have noticed it if Tails hadn’t pointed it out to him.

“And that’s Metal Harbor?” he asked, squinting.

“Yeah, that’s it,” Tails answered. “Haven’t been here in a long time…”

“Have I been here before? Or,  _ will _ be here, in my future?” 

“How’d you guess?” the fox said with a smirk.

“Kinda weird though, isn’t it? I mean, a military base isn’t my usual sort of hang out spot, and I doubt the Emeralds would hang out there. I wonder what went down…” his voice trailed off near the end.

Tails rolled his eyes. Sonic was clearly goading him into talking more about his future. “Dude, do you seriously want me to spoil  _ everything  _ for you?”

“Give me the general gist of it. No major details.”

Tails huffed. “ _ Fine. _ Well, a while back, Metal Harbor used to be a part of Prison Island.”

“ _ The  _ Prison Island?”

“That’s the one. Eggman and a couple of others, who I’m not naming by the way, came to the island to get a Chaos Emerald that G.U.N. was holding here, and they sure weren’t quiet about it. That’s why we came in, to try and stop them and get the Emerald back.”

“Well, that sounds about right… So where’s Prison Island? I don’t see anything.”

“Most of it blew up.”

“Oh, alri- wait,  _ blew up?! _ ” Sonic shouted in astonishment. Tails shrugged nonchalantly.

“Yeah.”

“Y’know, normally, an entire island exploding and vanishing off the map is considered to be pretty freaking crazy.”

“We’ve seen crazier.”

The hedgehog shook his head. Crazier than that? It didn’t seem possible. “What the hell am I getting myself into…”

Metal Harbor was quickly coming into view. Dozens of giant missiles jutted into the skyline, ready to be launched at a moments notice if need be. Steel scaffolding was everywhere, providing walkways and ramps that connected various buildings that were suspended above the water on stilts. The place was huge, and almost glaring to look at in the hot afternoon sun. It was still too far away to tell if time had frozen there yet, but the young Sonic sort of hoped it had. It would certainly simplify things, that was for sure.

Tails picked up the Tornado’s radio headset and slipped it on his head. He flipped a few switches, and then spoke into the mic, “Calling Metal Harbor, this is the Tornado. Requesting permission to land, over.” There was radio silence for several seconds, which wasn’t a good sign. Tails repeated the message, more slowly this time. The G.U.N. base didn’t reply.

“Don’t suppose they’re on lunch break?” the hedgehog joked. Tails shook his head.

“Definitely not. Come on, let’s get down there. Something’s wrong.” He started to lower the plane, closing in on a docked aircraft carrier.

A few minutes later, the Tornado was safely parked, Tails’ scarf left in the cockpit, and its two passengers were exploring the base, looking for signs of people. They walked on the suspended outdoor pathways, their shoes clunking on the metal. The wind blew in their faces, brisk and salty. The military complex was oddly empty, but there were occasional signs of struggle. Dents and bullet holes in the walls and floors, broken windows, even a weapon or two lying useless on the floor.

“Looks like something big went down here, after all,” Tails said, looking around.

“The wind is still blowing, though…” Sonic pointed out. “Even in Windy Valley, there wasn’t a breeze. Time hasn’t stopped here, at least not yet.”

“Well, that’s comforting, I suppose. Do you sense the Chaos Emerald anywhere?”

The hedgehog closed his eyes and tried to focus on picking up on the energies in the air. They were faint, barely tickling his mind. “Nada,” he said after a minute or so. “I’m not really that good at sensing those things yet, y’know? I’ve only gone Super a couple of times before.”

“Oh, right. Guess I forgot. You’re younger than I’m used to, after all.”

“Yeah, I hear you. You’re a lot older than I’m used to, too. Anyway, once we get close to the Emerald, I’ll be able to tell, but I can’t sniff it out from a mile away.” Sonic hopped up on the railing of the walkway to get a higher vantage point. “Jeez, there is literally nobody here. Where the heck did everyone go?”

“I’m not sure. You think those time monsters were here?”

“It makes sense, what with all the bullet holes littering the place. What else could clear this place out? I think the real question is whether or not the monsters are still around.”

“I sure hope they’re not,” Tails answered, his namesakes twitching in anticipation. He hadn’t been in a real fight in a while, only the occasional sparring match with his big bro. He wasn’t looking forward to fighting the same creatures that gave the older hedgehog his unusual scar.

“Come on,” Sonic the younger walked ahead. “Let’s explore around outside, scope the place out first. Then we’ll check inside. Keep your eyes peeled for anything out of the ordinary.”

“Right.” And then they were off, Sonic taking the lead while Tails flew behind. Just like old times. There were gaping holes in the metal floor that they jumped over, chain link fences that they slid under, and several patrol towers to climb and check out. Sonic tried light speed dashing a few more times, as there were lines of rings everywhere. He was initially met with varying levels of success, but he finally started to get the hang of it. Even if he wasn’t technically supposed to be able to do it yet, he figured the trick would likely come in handy.

While he practiced, Tails tried contacting the older Sonic on his wrist communicator. He had a strong signal, and nothing was blocking his transmission, but the twenty-year-old didn’t answer. He had checked Sonic’s communicator last night though, and there wasn’t anything wrong with it. So why wasn’t the hedgehog answering now, and why didn’t he answer yesterday when he was in Apotos? Was it because time was all screwy in the city and the signal didn’t go through? He supposed it was possible, but it didn’t explain the radio silence now. The fox sighed and tucked the communicator back under his glove. He’d have to adjust them later, see if he could alter their frequencies to account for time rifts.

“Yo, Tails! I think I got the hang of this!” Sonic’s younger self cheered, coming over to him. “Here, check it out!” He sprinted over to a line of rings that led up to a higher platform. When he reached the first ring, he shot up the trail and landed gracefully on his feet. “Tada!” he said, bowing proudly.

Tails applauded. “Not bad!” he said with a smirk, flying up onto the platform with him. “I still can’t believe you’re able to do that.”

“Yeah, me either.” Sonic stretched his legs and jogged in place. “Any word from older me or the others?”

“Not a peep.”

“Figures. Why can’t I just learn to pick up the dang phone? Ugh… Anyway, what do you say we take a look around inside? Maybe we’ll find something interesting, instead of just bullet holes,” Sonic said boredly. Tails nodded for him to lead the way, and he ran ahead, speeding down the metal track. Tails thought it was kind of funny, how this expedition was being led by someone younger than himself. Sure, it was still Sonic, but it was a Sonic he hadn’t known in eight years. His big brother had changed a lot during that time. He wondered if his Sonic was feeling the same about spending time with the younger him.

After a number of loop-de-loops, jumps, and light speed dashes over huge gaps in the metal walkway, the duo reached the largest building in the complex. The heavy metal doors were blown wide open, pockmarked from being hit by bullets. Large gashes, probably made by sharp claws by the looks of them, criss-crossed its surface.

“Yeah, I’ll give you three guesses as to what did this,” the young hedgehog said, motioning towards the broken doors.

“Yeesh. These monsters mean business,” Tails said nervously. “Those claw marks are huge!”

“Yeah. They’re too big to be from the smaller monsters that were in Apotos, that much is for sure.” Sonic rubbed a hand over the cold metal and tried pushing on the door. It wouldn’t budge. “This thing is totally solid. Must have taken some real muscle to force these doors open.”

“They’re beefing up their security… These monsters must really want that Emerald.” Tails frowned and looked inside the building. The power was off, so he couldn’t see much from outside, but he could definitely make out signs of a fight. “Come on! We need to go in and find it. Hopefully it’s not too late.”

Sonic nodded and dashed ahead into the building. The lights were almost all out, and a couple of them were flickering dimly. Most of the light came from holes blown in the ceiling. The holes, like the rest of the damage around the base, looked recent. Sonic and Tails hadn’t run into any monsters since they’d arrived, but Sonic didn’t let his guard down. The fact that there weren’t a lot of weak creatures lurking around might just mean that there were some big creatures hiding out in the shadows.

There were piles of debris on the metal floor, which the hedgehog skillfully jumped over and avoided. Helmets and guns could be seen occasionally lying on the ground.  _ ‘These were highly trained soldiers,’  _ Sonic gulped.  _ ‘And the Time Eater’s cronies were able to get them… All ‘cause me and older-me weren’t able to take him out for good the first time.’ _ He felt something heavy start to form in the pit of his stomach. Between the monster attacks and the crazy storms, people could have been dying over the past few days. It was his fault. He hadn’t known the Time Eater was still alive, but that didn’t matter. He ran past a small pool of blood and felt like throwing up at the sight of it. People probably got killed because he messed up and let Robotnik’s monster get away. He never had to face death before, at least not the death of others. The only one who was ever in any real life-threatening danger from Robotnik’s robots was Sonic himself. But now, innocent bystanders were in danger. The whole world, the entire timeline was at stake. For the first time, the twelve-year-old realized just how many lives rested on his shoulders.

“Tails, we need to see if we can save the people who were in here… We need to find that Emerald before things get any worse!” Sonic said, clenching his fists and feeling slightly sick. He didn’t get a reply. “Tails?” he asked again. It finally dawned on him that he couldn’t hear the  _ thwp-thwp-thwp  _  of the fox’s spinning twin tails. In fact, it had been silent for the past few minutes. Sonic skidded to a halt and turned around. No one was there behind him. “Tails!” he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. His voice echoed through the empty hallway, and it was soon silent again. Something was definitely wrong. Surely, the older incarnation of the fox knew that this was no time for jokes, so he wouldn’t be hiding. There was no way he could have gotten lost, as there hadn’t been any other paths through the base for him to have taken. That left only one option: Tails was deep in trouble, and couldn’t call for help. Was he surrounded? Gagged? Unconscious? Sonic didn’t want to think about what came after unconscious on that list. He thought back for a split second to the helmets and blood that were on the floor, and he suddenly felt sicker than ever. The age gap suddenly meant nothing to him. That was his little brother, and he was going to make sure he was okay.

He was a split second away from taking off toward the entrance again when he heard a loud  _ crunch _ coming from behind him. He spun around, his spines bristling in surprise. Barely visible in the dim light was a massive creature, one of its giant feet standing on what used to be a soldier’s helmet. The monster towered over the young hedgehog, nearly twice as big as the four-armed beast that harmed his older-self, taking up almost the entire height and width of the hallway. Sonic could feel its cold, damp breath from twenty feet away. The monster let out a deafening roar, and Sonic wasted no time sprinting in the opposite direction, going as fast as his feet could carry him. The floor shook as the monster ran after him, causing debris to crash down all around him. He jumped over stray guns and slabs of concrete. Sonic glanced back, and saw that the beast was hot on his tail; actually, it was gaining on him. He cursed under his breath. As fast as he was, his steps were tiny in comparison to those of the monster, who didn’t have to worry about watching his step. Even so, the thing seemed to be moving unnaturally fast.

Before Sonic could turn around again to look where he was going, his foot got caught under a piece of rubble and he slammed into the ground. His knees and face got all scratched up, and he was dizzy from the force of the sudden impact. That was the bad thing about running at supersonic speeds: tripping and falling could be seriously painful.

He tried to push himself back to his feet, but his head was spinning and he had a hard time regaining his balance. The monster leaned down and picked the semi-conscious hedgehog up around his midsection. Sonic struggled to break free from its grip as he was lifted into the air. He pushed against the strong, liquidy fingers that were holding him in place, but it was no use. The creature squeezed its fist, crushing him and making him see spots. He tried to come up with a plan to escape, but he couldn’t breathe. He wasn’t getting enough oxygen, he was being squeezed too tight. His vision slowly went black as he slipped into unconsciousness.

He came to some time later, with no way to determine how long it had been since he got knocked out. There was a dull thumping in his head, and his mind still felt foggy. He blinked a few times to try and clear his vision of spots. Wherever he was, it was nearly pitch black. He found that he was stuck to a wall, held up by… something. It wasn’t rope or chain, but it felt oddly wet and slimy. He couldn’t move, only turn his head back and forth. He groaned.  _ ‘Where the heck am I?’ _ Sonic thought, looking around. He couldn’t see a thing. The only source of light in the room was a small speck on the floor about fifty feet away, and about fifteen below him. It was glowing a deep blue, which didn’t help to light the space up.  _ ‘Wait a second...’ _ Sonic closed his eyes and tried to focus. He could feel the energy thrumming excitedly in the air, rushing rapidly through the room.  _ ‘That’s a Chaos Emerald!’ _ He almost wasn’t able to tell because of how groggy he felt. He began squirming to try to break out of whatever was holding him to the wall, but it was no use. He was stuck fast, and whenever he did manage to move even an inch, the stuff suspending him just filled in the gap, so he wasn’t getting any looser. “Jeez, what is this stuff? Some kind of goo?” he muttered quietly to himself, trying to at least get a hand free.

“You don’t want to know,” a voice said next to him in a deadpan, only a few feet away from him by the sound of it.

Sonic turned his head to look, but he could barely see a thing. “Tails?” he guessed. “Is that you?”

“Keep your voice down!” he hissed. “Yeah, it’s me. How’d they get you? I thought you’d be too fast for them.”

“You mean the monsters? I, uh… sort of… ran down a dead end by mistake,” he fibbed. That sounded a LOT less embarrassing than saying he tripped and fell flat on his face.

Tails sighed. “I got grabbed a few seconds after we went in. Stupid monster swooped in from the ceiling… Oh, shh!” he said quietly. Sonic instinctively started holding his breath, wondering why he needed to be quiet. He didn’t dare ask. He kept his eyes peeled so he could try and see what was coming, but he heard it long before he saw it. The monster that entered was as dark as the room was, but its footsteps were thunderous. Its long claws dragged across the floor as the light from the Chaos Emerald showed a vague outline of the beast. Sonic’s quills bristled nervously. The thing was gigantic. The last thing he fought that was that big besides the Time Eater itself was the Death Egg Robot. Its lumbering movements were slow and heavy as it tread across the room to one of the four walls. It raised up one of its treetrunk arms and ripped something off the wall, and then walked back out with it. Sonic wasn’t immediately wondering what it carried out, however.

“Why is that thing so  _ slow?” _ he whispered harshly to Tails once he was sure the monster was gone. He couldn’t be sure in the darkness, but he thought he saw Tails raise an eyebrow at him.

“Dude, that thing is huge. Of course it’s going to be slow,” the fox said simply.

“No, that’s not it! Before, when it was chasing me- it was  _ fast! _ Like, faster than  _ me, _ even!”

“Really?” Tails replied, sounding surprised. He thought about it for a few seconds before suggesting, “Maybe it used some sort of time powers? These guys have been messing with the time flow after all. Maybe the one chasing you was able to slow you down.”

“I guess that makes sense… The smaller monsters we fought weren’t able to do that, so maybe it’s only the really big ones.” The hedgehog let out a huff in frustration. He and Tails were stuck, and there was least one massive time monster keeping them there. The situation was not looking good. “Hey, what did that thing carry out of here? It grabbed something off the wall just now-”

“That was a prisoner,” Tails gulped. “Where do you think all the G.U.N. soldiers went? They’re all stuck up here, just like we are. Every ten minutes or so, they’ve come in and grabbed someone off the walls…”

“Where are they taking everyone?”

“I wish I knew,” he said regretfully. The fox hated being unable to help almost as much as Sonic did. He had been awake for almost thirty minutes, Sonic already on the wall next to him by the time he had awoken. His eyes had fully adjusted to the dark; he had been scanning the room for exits while the young hedgehog was still out cold, and the only way out was the door that the monsters were coming and going through. Even if they got out of the sticky goo holding them to the wall, there would be no way to sneak out. They would have to fight their way through, and these giant beasts were powerful. Tails already knew they were big and strong, but they apparently had some control over the flow of time as well. If they were smart enough to use that power well, getting through one of them would be nearly impossible-- let alone how many others there were in the base. Getting everyone out of here safely could definitely be tricky.

“How many soldiers do you think are in here?” Sonic asked, looking around. He could make out a few shapes hanging from the walls, but he couldn’t see more than that.

“At least a hundred. G.U.N.’s kept some pretty sizeable patrols at this base ever since the last time we were here.”

“Okay, so we’re not going to be able to carry everyone out. We’ll need to make a path… Dangit, if I weren’t stuck I might be able to spindash a hole in the wall, make an emergency exit.”

“I doubt it,” Tails said, trying to wriggle his twin namesakes free of the mysterious goo. “You saw how thick that door was when we came in. The walls are probably just as thick, if not thicker.”

“Man! I hate when you’re right about stuff. I guess that means we need to beat the tar out of these monster-things then… Ugh, I hate being stuck like this!” Sonic groaned loudly. He squirmed around impatiently, desperately trying to break free. “I can’t move, this goop is getting all gunked up in my quills, and it  _ smells! _ It smells like skunk spray and vomit and I’m not going to get the stink out of my shoes for weeks! WEEKS, Tails!”

“Sonic, be quiet!” Tails hissed at him. “They always take the loudest ones first, you need to shut up until we come up with a plan!”

“I have a plan! If they rip me out of here, I’ll make them sorry they ever stuck me up here in the first place! I’ll kick their butts so hard they’ll be flossing with my shoelaces!!” he growled, practically screaming now. The vulpine was about to remind him that he in fact didn’t _ have  _ shoelaces, when heavy footsteps began to fall from outside the room.

“Sonic, seriously, shut up!! This is a really bad idea!” he whispered, but the blue one was ignoring him. Tails refused to give up trying to make his friend see reason. “We don’t know what these things are capable of. You could get yourself killed!”

“No I won’t!” Sonic hissed back at him quietly, as if about to divulge a secret. “I’ve been hanging out with my  _ older self _ all week, of course I’m going to live!”

Tails would have slapped himself on the forehead if he could move his hands. Of course! Obviously, the young speedster would go back to his own time and grow up to become the Sonic whom Tails knew, who was most certainly not dead. The twelve-year-old was practically invincible. He could get hurt, sure, but he knew that he wouldn’t die or sustain any serious injuries. He was using the security and insurance he got from the presence of his older self to his advantage. It was brilliant, really. Tails couldn’t believe he’d managed to neglect that simple, but game-changing fact.

“So you  _ do _ have a plan,” the fox said with a sly smile. “Or at least the beginnings of one.”

“Duh, I’m not a complete knucklehead. You’re not safe like I am though, so keep it down! We’re screwed if they take us both.”

Tails nodded and proceeded to keep quiet while Sonic yelled and brashly tried to escape. Confident now that he knew the hedgehog would be okay, he started trying to fill in the gaps to create a cohesive escape plan. He immediately continued his attempt to unstick his twin tails from the wall. They were stronger than his arms, and would be more of a help when it came to getting out of the gooey trap. While he was doing that, he looked around the room for anything that could prove useful, something that could turn the tide of the impending fight in his and Sonic’s favor. Obviously, there was the Chaos Emerald in the middle of the room that he would have to grab. The fox personally couldn’t tap into its energy without a machine, and he doubted that Sonic would be able to harness much power from a lone Emerald, as he was too young. He supposed it was possible that the young incarnation of the blue blur might be able to tap into Chaos Control, seeing as he could already light-speed dash, but it seemed incredibly unlikely.

Tails looked past the Emerald to see what else in the room he could use. There were pieces of scrap metal and electronics littering the floor. If only he had more time, he could use them to construct some sort of weapon. On the far side of the room there looked to be some sort of control booth, but it was too far away to even guess at what use it would be. He’d have to get up close.

A loud stomping thundered through the room and the adjoined hallway. It appeared that the monsters had had enough of Sonic’s yelling and were coming to shut him up. At least, that’s what they thought. Sonic grinned as two hulking beasts entered the room, trying to find the source of the noise.

“Well, it’s about time!” he shouted proudly, his young voice brimming with confidence. “The service here is terrible! I’m afraid I’m going to have to have a little chat with your manager.” The two monsters turned their heads towards him as he stuck his tongue out at them and blew a raspberry. The creatures approached slowly, their massive footsteps and heavy breathing echoing through the relatively empty chamber. One of them reached a giant hand towards the hedgehog and wrapped its slimy fingers around him. A sickening, gooey sound could be heard as he was ripped from the wall. “Excuse you,” Sonic smirked. The monster didn’t seem smart enough to understand the remark, but it must have been sick of the blue one’s incessant chattering as it squeezed him tighter in his hand. Sonic thankfully got the message and stopped talking. The two beasts turned around and started trudging out of the room, the small hedgehog forcefully brought along for the ride.

As soon as they turned around, Tails resumed his fight to break free of the goo holding him to the wall. He knew he didn’t have much time. Who knew what they were going to do to Sonic, and how quickly they were going to do it? He tried, slowly but surely, to push his tails through the goop and out into the fresh air. It took him a few minutes, but finally his appendages were able to reach the edge of the sticky substance. He slowly started to peel it off, and felt himself starting to come off of the wall. His twin tails were too sticky to fly with, so he dropped down to the ground with a wet  _ thud.  _

Once he regained his footing, he immediately raced to the center of the room, careful not to trip on any debris, and grabbed the Chaos Emerald laying there on the ground. "Now we're in business," the fox breathed with a smirk. He looked over at the control room he was inspecting before, and decided a quick look inside wouldn't hurt. There might be something he could use as a weapon. He ran over, trying to de-goop his tails as he did so. He busted through the door, which was unlocked, and looked around at what he had to use. There were a few guns strewn on the floor, but those wouldn't help. These monsters wouldn't get killed by puncturing them.  _ 'Zonic's laser pistol would probably hurt them, though... So we would need to use brute force, or attack them with some sort of energy blast.' _ He glanced down at the Emerald in his hand.  _ 'The Time Eater couldn't touch the Chaos Emeralds the first time we fought him... These guys might be the same way. It wouldn't make much sense, since they gather around the Emeralds, but... I've never actually see one of them lay their hands on one. They might just feed off the energy, but touching the thing itself hurts them. Almost like how people gather around fire to keep warm, but can't touch it.' _ Tails figured it was worth a shot, but since he'd have to get up close and personal to the monsters to touch them with the Emerald, he decided to save it for a last resort.

He looked back down at the control panel. Parts of it were sparking dangerously, so he doubted anything would be functioning fully. All that was left in the small booth were some smashed coffee cups, a large spool of stripped cable, a lever that would set off the fire alarm and sprinkler system, a half-eaten donut, some boots that were several sizes too big for him, and a pair of rubber gloves. An idea started to hatch in Tails' head. He smiled. It was time to have some fun.

Sonic, on the other hand, was not having fun. In fact, he was having the total opposite of fun. He had been carried through hallway after hallway. The monster swayed back and forth as it walked, and he was getting seasick. Of course, the beasts decided not to speed up time around them so they moved faster, so the journey was taking forever.  _ 'Where are we going? What are they going to do to me that they can't do back from where we came?’  _ he wondered, trying to get a sense for where they were going, but he didn't want to move his head around too much. Even if he couldn't die, he didn't want to give the monster holding him another reason to pop him like a zit. He was already being held tighter than his liking, and it made it hard for him to take a deep breath and hold it. This wasn’t good, because the monsters smelled awful. He and Tails would be fighting for the shower when they got home, that was for sure.  _ ‘Man, I hope the others are all having a better time than I am,’  _  he thought, rolling his eyes.  _ ‘Although, that wouldn’t be hard at all. I’m sure getting kicked in the teeth is more fun than this.’ _

The monster that was carrying him turned right into a room that was smaller than the one they were in before, only this one wasn't nearly as empty. There was a cage, suspended in the air by a chain from the ceiling, holding several G.U.N. soldiers, whom he could hear whispering in fear. There were also two more of the huge monsters, bringing the total up to four. The hedgehog gulped. This was definitely going to be harder than he thought. His mind started racing, thinking of a plan of attack just in case Tails was unable to come to his aid. _ 'I had to sneak up on that one monster in Windy Hill in order it hurt it, and that thing was way smaller than these guys. How is one guy supposed to take on four giant monsters that can control time and get out alive?' _ He could at least see in here, as the ceiling and walls were littered with holes that allowed light to filter through. He caught a glimpse of the sky outside. It was starting to turn orange, the sun just beginning to set. It wouldn't be long before night fell, and then he'd be fighting blind.

Sonic felt himself being lifted up high, the monster raising its arm to drop him in the cage with the other prisoners. This was going to be his only shot. He took a few deep breaths to prepare himself for the fight that was about to break loose as the beast loosened its grip on him. As soon as he felt he could move, the hedgehog jumped off of the massive hand, avoided landing in the cage full of soldiers, and hit the ground running. There was no time to strike a pose, like his older self liked to do. He wasn't going to give these things an inch.

He raced up the leg of the monster that had been carrying him, as the others quickly followed him with their eyes and got poised to recapture him. Sonic ran up to the creature's head and stood there confidently. The monster realized that the small, blue being was on top of him, and raised a hand up to slap him off. As the giant, dripping fist came down, Sonic jumped off at the last second. "Really? That's the oldest trick in the book!" he exclaimed with a grin as the creature's clenched hand collided with the top of its head, sending the beast stumbling backward. Sonic had hoped these monsters weren't all that bright. Hopefully he would be able to pull that trick a second time. The injured monster didn't fall down, and merely shook its head to get its tiny brain sorted out again. All four of the beasts glared at Sonic, who suddenly felt like a plate of food in front of four starving animals. He was thinking that he might be able to take out the creatures by having them take  _ themselves _ out, but they were apparently more resilient than that. "Crap," he breathed, quickly running up the wall and circling the room while he tried to come up with a new plan.  _ 'If these guys are total idiots, I can have them just punch each other in the heads until they pass out, but that might take awhile. Maybe I can make them really dizzy by running around a lot? Then again, I'll probably just make myself really dizzy first. Tails, where are you?!'  _

He quickly curled up into a ball, keeping his momentum, and spindashed off the wall and into back of one of the monsters’ heads. He drilled straight through, getting himself covered in goop in the process, and touched down in the center of the room. He shivered and tried to shake the goo off of him, shouting mild profanities. After wiping most of the gunk off of himself, it became suddenly apparent that the monster whose head he slammed through had not fallen down. Sonic glanced up nervously at it. Its face, which should have been nothing more than a gaping hole, was  _ repairing itself _ , the sticky goo that comprised its body stretching and filling up the gap. The hedgehog gulped.  _ ‘Great job Sonic. Now you’ve pissed it off! How am I supposed to kill these things?!’ _

The monsters were done watching Sonic’s feeble attempts to attack them. They came at him now at full force, using their powers to speed themselves up considerably.  _ ‘Or maybe they’ve slowed me down,’ _ thought Sonic, unsure of which one would be worse. He glanced upward for a split second at the G.U.N. soldiers in the suspended cage, who did in fact seem to be moving a lot faster than they should have. A sprint over to one of the holes blown in the wall cemented his fears. The waves outside were moving at more than double speed, and a flock of seagulls soared by as fast as a jet.  _ ‘Okay. They slowed me down. That’s embarrassing.’  _ Sonic turned around to face the monsters and gulped. They were in control of his speed now, not him. This could end very, very badly.

He took a deep breath as he started to run as fast as he could, narrowly dodging the onslaught of lightning-fast punches, kicks, tail swipes, and stomps. He even had goo launched at him a couple times, flying so quickly through the air that even  _ his _ reflexes were being put to the test.  _ ‘Wait, the gunk that was sticking me to the wall before was gunk that they shot out of their arms? Gross!’ _ Sonic thought as he jumped over a goo puddle that landed in front of him. Well, Tails did say that he wouldn’t want to know. Speaking of Tails, the hedgehog’s only hope was to keep these monsters occupied long enough for Tails to break free and come up with a plan. Having a pretty good idea of what the future-Tails was capable of, the twelve-year-old wasn’t concerned with his ability to formulate a plan of attack. What he was concerned about was whether Tails would be able to break free of the gooey trap or not. That stuff could hold up a fully-armored, adult, human soldier. Tails barely weighed fifty-five pounds soaking wet. He sure hoped his buddy would be alright.

While he was busy concerning himself over his friend, he dropped his guard for a split second. Unfortunately, a split second for him was about fifteen seconds for everyone else in the room, and one of the massive beasts easily swatted him into a wall. He collided into the cold steel hard, as if he’d been launched into it from a cannon. From there he was picked up and quickly thrown into the floor. He curled up this time to absorb the impact, and used his momentum to let loose a spindash.  _ ‘Where’s Tails? If these monsters are moving this fast, he should be moving like lightning!’ _

Almost as soon as he thought it, a torrential downpour opened up inside the room. “What?!” Sonic shouted, getting blasted with water from above. He looked up and saw that it wasn’t rain- the sprinklers had been turned on. For some reason, he doubted that there was a fire; this was likely Tails' doing.  _ 'There he is!' _ the hedgehog smiled. Help was on the way. Which was good, because he was getting the snot kicked out of him. He was being slowed down too much, and he couldn't react quickly enough to everything going on around him. What felt like seconds for him was minutes to everyone else, and the sun had set below the horizon ages ago. It was getting harder and harder to see, which didn't seem to be a problem for the colossal beasts trying to kill him. He ran up the wall again to stall for time, suspecting it wouldn't take Tails very long to arrive. His shoes were slippery and wet though, and he was sliding back down to the floor.  _ 'Was this your plan? Drowning me? _ ' he thought, annoyed.

He looked to the doorway to see that his two-tailed friend had appeared. He was wearing large, rubber gloves, and holding a large, sparking wire. Suddenly, everything in Sonic's head clicked.  _ 'Water. Sparking wire. But the walls are made of metal! ... And this place is probably made to withstand lightning strikes, since it's in the middle of the ocean and surrounded by missiles.' _ He should be fine as long as he stayed off of the floor, where there was a few inches of water puddling up. Tails spun the wire around his head like a whip, the end crackling. He sent it flying towards the closest monster, quicker than Sonic could see. As soon as the wire connected, the beast erupted with electricity, and the slowness engulfing the hedgehog vanished. Sonic nearly tripped and fell as he caught back up with the time stream.

"You back to normal? You've been running around all slow for the past ten minutes," Tails shouted to him over the crackling electricity.

"Yeah, I'm good! I think," Sonic gasped, running over and standing behind him. "You sure took your sweet time."

"I don't see you engineering any sort of weapon to fight these things," the fox smirked, pulling his wire away from the first monster and whipping it towards a second. The first creature collapsed to the ground, smoking. It was thoroughly dead. The second was quickly reaching that point.

“Be careful where you swing that thing. There are soldiers up there, in the cage,” Sonic pointed out, panting. Keeping those monsters occupied was harder than he thought it would be. “I have no idea why, though. I couldn’t figure out why they-”

“The time monsters absorb Chaos Energy. It’s like their food,” Tails interrupted. “That’s why they took the soldiers. G.U.N. robots and weapons are powered by Chaos Drives. The soldiers probably have them in their suits.”

“That’s why they gather around the Chaos Emeralds?”

“Bingo. If they’re anything like the Time Eater though, they can’t touch the Emeralds.”

“Right… They’d get overloaded. Tapping into the Emeralds is incredibly dangerous if you don’t know how.” Sonic smiled. They knew the monsters’s weakness now. They had the advantage.

Tails pulled the blue Chaos Emerald from within his tails. “Would you like to do the honors?” he smiled, passing the gem to his bro.

“Ugh, fine! Twist my arm, will ya?” Sonic laughed. He took the Emerald and dashed back into the fray, giving wide berth to the monster currently being electrocuted. He ran towards one of the two other monsters was still standing, this one prepared to fight. The creature swung a massive hand towards the blue blur, but now that he was not being slowed, he easily dodged the sluggish attack. He slid between the monster’s legs and ran up its back. “One extra-large serving of Chaos Energy, coming right up!” he exclaimed as he jammed the Emerald into the nape of the beast’s neck. The effect was immediate. There was a sharp burst of light and an ear-splitting noise as the monster screamed. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard as the flow of time frantically distorted around them. The monster collapsed to the ground; from Sonic’s perspective, this took only a few seconds, but to Tails and the imprisoned G.U.N. soldiers, the event lasted for around two minutes.

When the creature finally hit the ground, it exploded into smoke, vanishing in an instant. The flow of time quickly returned to normal. Sonic grinned. Hunting for Chaos Emeralds just got a  _ lot _ more fun.

“Sonic! Jump!” Tails shouted suddenly, preparing to throw his electrified cable again. The hedgehog didn’t ask questions, and jumped high into the air. Tails let loose, whipping the wire directly at the spot where Sonic had just been standing. The remaining monster had just been about to make a grab for the blue one, but now it was only holding a cable loaded with electricity in its soaking wet hands. The shocking power rocked through its body, frying it. Sonic made sure to land outside of the puddle that the monster was standing in so he wouldn’t be electrocuted, too. He could withstand a lot, but he didn’t think he could withstand  _ that _ .

Tails yanked the wire back, and the creature fell over, dead like the others. He then pulled the other end of the long cable, pulling it out of the sparking control panel in the other room. The electricity stopped flowing, and he safely dropped the wire and his rubber gloves on the floor. “Well, that was exciting,” he said, speaking loudly as to be heard over the sprinklers, which were still releasing rain from above.

“Yeah,” Sonic said, approaching him. “You got to zap some monsters, I had my personal time stream violated, fun for everyone.” He shuddered. “Let’s just get these G.U.N. soldiers out of here and go home. I think I’m done for the day.” He shook some more goop off of him, taking advantage of the sprinklers. “By the way, dibs on the shower when we get back.”

ooo

As they were flying back home on the Tornado, Tails and Sonic were both stuck in the weird limbo of being exhausted and having an adrenaline rush. It would surely wear off soon, but at the moment they were both antsy and yawning. The young Sonic sat on the wing of the bi-plane, rather than standing, and he was tapping his fingers on the painted metal impatiently as they soared over the ocean.

"Hey, Sonic," Tails said, trying to suppress a yawn.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Thanks."

Sonic's ears perked up, and he turned his head to look at the fox. "Thanks for what? I should be thanking you, you’re the one who saved the day back there."

"That’s not true, I just electrified a cable and swung it around. Will you let me talk?” he laughed. “I just wanted to thank you for… Y'know. For everything," Tails shrugged with a smile. "I never really got the chance to thank you for all the stuff you did for me when I was younger. So thanks."

That caught the hedgehog off guard. He smiled lamely, unsure of what to say other than "No problem!" He turned back to face the ocean, and watched the water fly by underneath them, reflecting the stars and moon. He never expected to be thanked for taking care of the fox. His Tails was too young to realize the extent of what he did for him. Plus, he always figured that once they had grown up, Tails would have grown too accustomed to Sonic's brotherliness to think to say thank you. It was a nice surprise. Taking care of a kid while you were still just a pre-teen yourself was difficult. Sonic ended up growing up more quickly than he would have liked to, and all for the little kid with two tails who he found being bullied on the beaches of Emerald Hill. He had done it all because he wanted to, of course, but that didn’t take away from the fact that the past two years he had spent with the kid hadn’t been easy.

It suddenly hit him that he was only two years younger than this Tails. The two Mobians riding in the plane were practically the same age, and at around the same level of maturity. The difference was almost non-existent, so that there was no older or younger. They were just about equals. It was strange. Even with the older Tails being a little older, Sonic still saw him as his little bro. And he supposed, in some weird way, Tails still  _ was _ his little bro. The fox still looked up to him, still followed his lead, still felt the need to thank him for being taken care of. But for the first time, Sonic was technically younger. He could ask Tails for advice, for help, things he was never really able to ask for before.

“Am I doing a good job?” the hedgehog blurted out suddenly. “O-Of being a big brother.”

This time Tails was caught by surprise. “What? Of course you are, what made you ask that?”

“Just making sure! I just wanted to know, that’s all. How often does a guy get the chance to ask his future-little brother these kinds of questions?”

Tails laughed. “Yeah, I guess that’s true. You shouldn’t worry about that. You’re doing awesome.”

“Sometimes it’s my job to worry.”

“Hey, it’s my job to worry, too. Do you know how many times a week you almost get killed?” the fox asked.

“I’ll try to get into less trouble.”

“No you won’t.” He wasn’t accusing Sonic of being a liar. He was stating a fact. The blue one laughed.

“Yeah.” The rest of the trip home was relatively quiet, with only the sounds of the plane, the ocean, and the occasional short conversation filling the air. It had been a long day, and it was enough for the two brothers to just sit and enjoy the peace for the time being.


	15. Mystic Caves Mix-Up

The Mystic Caves on Westside Island were eerily quiet. Almost entirely devoid of people of any kind, the place was home to many nocturnal and dangerous animals. The roads which had been built there long ago were overgrown with vines and foliage, and many of the wooden bridges were unstable, threatening to collapse at the slightest touch. Still, something felt magical about the place. With deep violet stalactites coming down from the ceiling as far as the eye could see in every direction, the constant abundance of fireflies, and the occasional crystal clear waterfall, the caves felt like something right out of a storybook.

Of course, the hedgehog who stood there now had been inside storybooks before, and he knew first-hand that they weren’t all they were cracked up to be.

Lil’ T hopped through the swirling orange portal behind him, mesmerized by the sudden change in scenery. Walking through the portal was literally like stepping from one world to another, and could be pretty disorienting. Once the fox was safely through, the portal closed up, leaving the two all alone.

“Man, I haven’t been here in a while!” Sonic exclaimed, stretching his legs and rolling his shoulders. “It’s just like I remember it.” He smiled. Once he and Tails left Westside Island after Robotnik’s defeat years ago, they both promised to never return unless absolutely necessary. The place held too many painful memories for the fox to ever want to go back, and Sonic had kept his word. Even so, he had come to miss the beautiful scenery of the island, and certainly didn’t mind taking a fresh look around. He looked down at the younger version of Tails standing next to him. “You gonna be okay, man?” he asked. The small fox nodded.

“Yeah, m’fine,” he said, even though he was clearly tense and his tails were twitching about in an agitated way.

Sonic decided to play along for now, and give the child the benefit of the doubt. “Cool! That Emerald’s not going to find itself. Let’s get going!” he said, urging the kid forward. Lil’ T did his best to swallow his fear as he started flying, and the duo began to make their way through the caverns. Lowering a bridge, crossing some moving platforms, and swinging on some large vines brought them up to one of the higher pathways through the caves, which they both knew from experience to be the safer route.  _ ‘Normally, I’d be the first one to go for the route with more danger,’ _ Sonic thought. _ ‘But after that fight yesterday in Apotos, I’m not totally sure I’m up to it right now.’ _ He frowned grumpily. He hated being injured. He was used to being healthy, and whenever he suddenly wasn’t, he felt outside of his comfort zone. He felt vulnerable and irritable. Magical, growing scars weren’t just something he could walk off or ignore. But he couldn’t exactly rest and heal up, either. He had a job to do, and he only had so much time to do it. Being hurt just made things unnecessarily hard and uncomfortable.

The hedgehog found himself grateful that, since he was traveling with Tails’ six-year-old self, they took breaks often. They would rest on the side of the road, trying to get their bearings straight, attempting to pinpoint the direction of the Chaos Emerald, and give the kid some time to regain his stamina to continue flying. With the frequent breaks, Sonic found that his chest didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had the day before, and he decided that he would be fine if he didn’t push himself too hard.

It was a strange thing, traveling with the younger Tails. This Tails was a Tails that Sonic hadn’t been on an adventure with in eight years, and he was vastly different. For one thing, this fox was more easily distracted, tired out quicker, and asked questions about  _ everything _ . Usually, it was the other way around, with Sonic asking his little bro all the questions. He had almost forgotten about the kid’s natural curiosity, his burning desire to know anything and everything he could. Tails wanted to know how the hanging switches operated the drawbridges, how platforms managed to float in mid air, what was the difference between stalactites and stalagmites, where he kept all the gold rings he collected, so on and so forth.

“Are you sure this is the right way?” came another question from the small fox, after a quiet stretch of uneventful traveling.

“I guess so,” Sonic shrugged. He wasn’t able to feel a whole lot of Chaos Energy in the air- at least no more than normal. He was just sort of navigating on instinct, hoping they were getting closer to the Emerald. “Why, are you not picking anything up on the radar?”

Tails shook his head, glancing at the device on his wrist. His older self had given him a different sort of wrist communicator before they left, this one having a radar function. “Nope, nothing.”

“Huh. Weird. Older-you said an Emerald was here, though…”

“Well, it’s gotta be around here  _ some _ where,” Lil’ T said, flying around to the other side of the speeding hedgehog. “We just gotta keep looking!” he said enthusiastically.

The blue one nodded. “I hear you, bud. Let’s see… If I were a Chaos Emerald, where would I- whoa!” Something whooshed past him suddenly, almost too fast for him to see. Something...  _ blue _ .

Sonic skidded to a stop, putting a hand in front of the young Tails so he would come to a halt as well. His instincts told him instantly that something was up.  _ ‘Was that… me? I mean, what else is fast and blue like that?’ _ he thought, confused. At this point, multiple Sonics at once wasn’t a shocker to him. But he was supposed to be the only Sonic here! What was going on?

He ducked down into some bushes by the side of the road, dragging Lil’ T down with him as the... other Sonic doubled back. A second Tails followed him, flying close behind. They were both young, maybe even younger than the past-versions of Sonic and Tails that has been living in the workshop the past few days.  _ ‘What in the heck is going on here?’ _  the adult hedgehog wondered.

“What is it, Sonic?” the second Tails asked his partner. The elder Sonic eavesdropped carefully from the bushes, keeping a hand over Lil’ T’s mouth to make sure he would be quiet.

The other Sonic shook his head and looked around, eyes passing over Sonic and Tails’ hiding place for a half a second. He didn’t see them. “Thought I saw something… Oh well, musta been nothing.” He shrugged and turned around. “C’mon, let’s get going.” The two quickly ran off, leaving the other duo in the bushes very confused.

“Sonic?” Lil’ T whispered, the hedgehog having taken his hand away from his mouth. “What just happened?”

“I wish I knew,” the twenty-year-old breathed. “One thing’s for sure though. That was NOT little me. At least, not THE little me. You know what I mean.”

“So… Now there’s a little me and a little little you?” the fox kit looked up at him.

“That’s the only explanation I can come up with. If I had to guess, this is their first time coming through here.” He smiled. “That was our first adventure together, kiddo.”

Tails’ eyes went wide, their dark pigmentation reflecting the light of the lanterns hanging from the low cave ceiling. “Really?” he said, his voice quiet but excited. “I wanna go say hi to them!” He jumped up to fly off, but Sonic grabbed his wrist before he could get airborne.

“I don’t know if that’s such a good idea!” Sonic said, slowly getting to his feet and setting Tails back down on the ground.

“What? Why? I wanna talk to me n’ Sonic!”

“Just- humor me for a moment, okay?” The hedgehog took a breath and looked around to make sure they were alone. “Think back to when you and me were exploring Mystic Caves for the first time. Do you remember meeting our older selves?”

“Yeah!”

“Really?”

“... No.”

“Exactly. So, that means that  _ they- _ ” he motioned to where the other Sonic and Tails ran off- “never see  _ us. _ Get it? We can’t talk to them because our older selves never talked to us.”

The fox looked at him, dumbfounded. “I don’t get it,” he said simply. Sonic blinked. He had momentarily forgotten that the Tails he was talking to was still young. He was smart, sure, but still far from the level of genius he would attain in a few years.

“Uh… Just don’t let them know we’re here, and we should be fine,” the older hedgehog  said. Honestly, he was completely baffled by what was going on himself. The last thing he expected to see on Westside Island was  _ another _ Sonic and Tails. Had he and Lil’ T gone back in time somehow? Or had the clock turned back in Mystic Caves, the same way it stopped in Windy Valley and went out of control in Apotos?

Sonic and Tails started walking again, going slow this time so they could keep an eye out for their past selves. The wooden boards of bridges and platforms creaked under their shoes as water dripped from the stalactites above.  _ ‘No wonder this place looks like it hasn’t changed a bit,’ _ the emerald-eyed one thought.  _ ‘It actually  _ hasn’t _ changed a bit. And I know I’ve been hanging out with twelve-year-old me for the past few days, but… This is different. It’s like a direct window into my own past. This is… actually really cool! I just need to make sure they don’t see us, or else who knows what could happen.’ _

“So,” Lil’ T said, his voice barely a whisper, “if past-us are here, does that mean that past-Robotnik is here, too?”

“I guess so,” Sonic shrugged. “I haven’t seen any badniks, but that doesn’t mean he’s not here.” This was turning into quite the stealth mission. They would have to avoid the other Sonic and Tails, avoid Robotnik, avoid the badniks, and find the Chaos Emerald. Not to mention, the older Sonic, due to the injury on his chest, did not feel confident in his stealth abilities, and the six-year-old fox kit traveling with him was too excited and easily distracted to stay out of sight for long.  _ ‘Hopefully I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew,’ _ the hedgehog gulped.

“Hey,” the young fox spoke up again.

“Hey yourself.”

“Um, the last time we were here,” Tails said, apparently struggling to get the timelines straight in his head, “did we already have all the Chaos Emeralds? Or did we get one one here?”

Sonic blinked. “That… is a very good question.” If they had found an Emerald in Mystic Caves in the past, that would mean that the two sets of Sonics and Tailses would be much more likely to cross paths in the present. He tried to think back.  _ Did _ they get an Emerald here? He struggled to remember the details of an adventure nine years in the past. He could remember getting the first few Emeralds in Emerald Hill (fittingly enough), and he thought he could recall winning one or two in Casino Night… The rest weren’t coming to him clearly. He tried to think of the first time he went Super. Wasn’t it in Hill Top? Or was it on Eggman’s Wing Fortress? He shook his head. The memories weren’t coming back easily. “I… I can’t remember,” he said, frustrated. “It’s been a while, y’know?” He sighed. “Maybe I should call up little-me, see if he can remember.”

“Good idea!” Lil’ T cheered. “You do that, an’ I’ll make sure no one’s coming!” He grinned and took to the sky, excited to have a mission to keep himself busy with. Sonic smirked and stepped off the main road. If the younger Sonic was running around at full speed, Tails wouldn’t be able to warn him in time, and he didn’t want to get caught like a deer in the headlights. After making sure the coast was clear, the twenty-year-old tugged the cuff of his glove back to reveal his wrist-com. He pressed a few buttons to call up the other Sonic and Tails team- the one in Metal Harbor, that is- and waited for them to pick up. He got the dial tone a few times before he started getting impatient. Why wouldn’t they pick up? This was important. He had to make sure he wouldn’t run into his other self. Or, his other other self, he supposed. There were too many Sonics currently running around for his tastes.  _ ‘At least Zonic and Scourge have different names, for crying out loud! I can keep them straight in my head...’ _

His friends in Metal Harbor still weren’t picking up. Sonic furrowed his brow. He hoped they weren’t any sort of trouble. Tails almost always picked up the phone. Hoping to calm the little bubble of anxiety that was forming in the pit of his stomach, he called up Zonic to check in with him and Scourge. Maybe they would be able to get in touch with Tails and Little Sonic.

The Zone Cop answered the call quickly. “Sonic? Is everything okay?” he asked. “Over.”

“Hey, Z. Everything’s cool, we’re both fine. I just need to ask little-me something, but he and Tails aren’t picking up. Have you had any better luck getting in touch with them? … Uh, over.”

“No, I haven’t tried calling them. Been kind of busy keeping an eye on Scourge. Oh, we found the Chaos Emerald-”

“Whoa, seriously? That was fast!” Sonic interrupted him.

“Time was frozen in Twinkle Park,” Zonic explained, his tone of voice hinting at his frustration at not getting the chance to say ‘over.’ “Scourge and I actually got back just half an hour after we all left. I can call Tails and your younger-self, see if they’ll answer me,  _ over. _ ”

“Cool,” Sonic smiled. “If you get through, ask little-me if we ever picked an Emerald up in Mystic Caves. It’s important.” There was silence for a few seconds before Sonic remembered to say “over.”

o o o

After teleporting back to Tails’ workshop, Zonic led Scourge into the living room and set him down on the couch. The green hedgehog had been experiencing dizziness and nausea, and his head hadn’t stopped bleeding where he got hit. “Just sit tight,” the Zone Cop said. “I’ll see what Sonic and Tails have around here that I can wrap up your head with.” He walked out of the room and went into the bathroom to raid the medicine cabinet.

Scourge closed his eyes. His head was killing him. Everything was spinning and swimming, it felt like his skull was about to burst open, and he could barely tell which way was up. His glove was plastered to his forehead by dried blood, and it didn’t seem to want to budge. Not that Scourge was in the mood to budge it and risk shaking his head around. All he could do was lie there and wait for Zonic to come back. He  _ hated _ being at the mercy of others. Showing vulnerability never sat well with him, but he didn’t have much of a choice much right now. He was just going to have to suck it up.

He opened his eyes and was graced with three Zonics entering his field of vision, each one holding a roll of bandages in his hand. “Keep still, will you?” they said, making his ears ring painfully. “Let me wrap up that hole in your head.” All Scourge could do was agree and pry his hand off of his forehead, letting the blood flow once more. Zonic quickly mopped it up with a wet paper towel, and then started tying the bandage around the wound. The green hedgehog tried not to moan as his head got jostled around.

“Jeez, I’m trying to be as gentle as I can here,” Zonic frowned.

“Why?”

“To keep you from whining anymore, you big baby.”

“No, I mean… Why are you helping me in the first place?” Scourge asked, cringing as his head moved around. “You’re supposed to hate me, remember?”

Zonic rolled his eyes. “Well, you’re no use to us if you’re unconscious and bleeding on the floor,” he said, tying off the gauze. “I know you’re gonna hate hearing this, but you need to stay put for a while to heal up. No TV, no video games, no thinking too hard. You don’t want to hurt yourself any more, now.”

“Oh, hardee har har. You must be the funniest cop on the force with a wit like that.”

“It’s almost like you  _ want _ me to slap you upside the head,” the No-Zoner sighed. “I’m going to call the others, see how they’re holding up. I didn’t expect us to be the first ones back here.”

“Yeah, that’s weird. What time is it?” Scourge looked at the clock, but he was unable to see it clearly.

“It’s- what the heck?” Zonic picked the clock off the wall and checked that the batteries were still working. They were. “We left, it was 12:30, right?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s 1:00. According to this, we only left here a half an hour ago.”

Scourge shrugged. “Well, time WAS frozen inside the park.”

“Yeah, but…” the blue one hung the clock back up. “Tails filled me in last night on everything that’s been happening. Time was frozen in Windy Valley, near the other side of the Mystic Ruins, but Sonic and the others were in there for a couple hours, real-world time.”

“Huh. That  _ is  _ weird.” The injured hedgehog attempted to sit up, but his head started dangerously swimming, and the room began to spin. Zonic rushed over and eased him back down.

“ _ Look, _ ” he said sternly. “I know you want to get up and move around, but you  _ can’t _ . Concussions take a while to heal, even for us. So unless you want to be resting on that couch for a week solid, I suggest you just do as I say and relax.” Scourge nodded, detesting the idea of being bedridden for a week.

“Aye aye, captain,” he said weakly, making a lazy salute and relaxing back into the sofa.

“Wait a second. What the hell did you do to your hands?”

“What?” Scourge looked down at his knuckles and saw that they were torn up and covered in blood. Maybe punching all of those mirrors  _ hadn’t _ been the smartest idea. “Those mirrors were lookin’ at me funny,” he explained. Well, it wasn’t a lie. Zonic rolled his eyes and tossed the roll of bandages at him. “What, I gotta do it myself? I’m injured here!”

“I’m not your mother. You’re a grown man, do it yourself.” He pulled his headgear off, tossed it onto the nearest chair, and stomped out of the room.

The green hedgehog exhaled slowly through pursed lips.  _ ‘Well, this whole “making friends” thing is going swimmingly,’ _ he thought as he pulled off his ripped gloves. He needed a new pair anyway. They never gave him any new ones when he was in jail, so his had been getting pretty old and ratty. Whatever, he could always steal a pair from Sonic. They wore the same size, after all. He rubbed his eyes to try and get them to see clearly so he could more closely inspect his injured hands. There were still a few tiny bits of glass embedded in his wounds, but he easily picked them out and dropped them onto the coffee table next to him.  _ ‘What was the deal with those mirrors, anyway? Showing Sonic’s reflection instead of mine… Was it all in my head? There was enough Chaos energy in that room to make me see stuff, but that just seems really unlikely. So what the hell happened back there? Am I… Am I going insane or something? I mean, it would explain why I keep having the same weird dream, I guess. But why? Why is this happening now? It doesn’t seem like it’d be because of the whole time stream situation. So is it because I’m on Mobius, tagging along with these pansies? Chaos, don’t tell me that those stupid reflections were actually right, that I  _ do _ want to be like Sonic. I don’t think I could handle being that happy all the damn time.’ _

He closed his eyes as his head started to hurt again.  _ ‘Crap, helmet head was right. Thinking too much  _ is  _ giving me a headache.’  _ But he couldn’t just stop thinking about it. This was something big, something important, something that was freaking him out. What if he really was going mad? What would happen to him next? He was already having weird dreams and some sort of hallucinations. What else could go wrong?

_ THUMP THUMP THUMP THUMP. _ His head was really starting to hurt now. Scourge decided to push away the thoughts for now, as worrying as they might be. There was nothing he would be able to do about it except hope that the visions and dreams would go away. He stared at the ceiling in frustration. He needed something to take his mind off of this, and fast. But Zonic had said no video games, no TV, nothing of the sort. He needed someone to talk to.  _ ‘Well, its a good thing I’m such a fantastic conversationalist.’ _

Over in the kitchen, Zonic was sitting at the table, not feeling so well himself. His stomach was in knots, twisting and turning enough that he almost wanted to throw up.  _ ‘I know I shouldn’t have had that chili dog on the way back,’ _ he thought regretfully.  _ ‘Thing was out in the sun for too long...’ _  When he got the bandages for Scourge, he had grabbed some painkillers from the medicine cabinet and quickly swallowed them. He was hoping they would kick in soon. He couldn’t afford to be ill. The Moebian was already hurt, and if he went down as well, “Team Backup” would be basically useless. And that was something he refused to be.

He sighed and started taking off his heavy armored chestplate. He might as well get comfy. Even if another Emerald showed itself on Tails’ radar, which was still scanning and re-scanning the globe down in the basement, he wouldn’t be able to go get it. Scourge wasn’t going anywhere for a while, and he  _ did  _ promise to keep an eye on him.

The armor  _ clunk _ ed heavily on the table as he set it down. He instantly felt much lighter and more comfortable, but also more vulnerable, more naked. Anything could easily reach through him and poke around at his heart like it was a plaything. Furrowing his brow, he pulled the yellow Emerald out of his quills and placed it up against his chest again, this time without his chestplate separating the jewel from his body. It hardly made a difference. He experienced no surge of energy, no flow of warmth or power through his body like he imagined would happen. 

_ Do you even have any special abilities?  _ Scourge’s words from before flew through his mind.  _ You can’t run, you can’t tap into Chaos Energies. You’re just a wannabe!  _ Zonic pulled the Emerald away from his chest and looked into it. He wanted to feel close to it, to have some sort of connection to it like the others did. There was nothing, though. The gem felt foreign instead of familiar. It was true, he was the only member of their ragtag team that hadn’t held a Chaos Emerald before that day. Even Scourge had gone Super with his world’s equivalent of the Emeralds before. He really was the odd man out here.  _ Poser.  _ The word rang through his head over and over, like a siren. He was comparing himself to Sonic  _ Prime _ , the original blue hedgehog. The one true Sonic across all dimensions. Was he really just a copy? Some cheap knock off? He wrapped his arms tight around his stomach and curled in on himself, resting his head on the table. He didn’t want to think about this anymore. He hated when he started comparing himself to his other selves, but once he started he often found it hard to stop.

“Heeeeyyy,” Scourge suddenly moaned from the living room couch. Zonic lifted his head up off the table, his ears perked. “Grab me a bucket, I think I’m gonna hurl…”

Wasting no time, the Zone Cop jumped out of his chair and grabbed the garbage can sitting in the corner of the room. He ripped the plastic door off the top of it and raced into the living room, setting the can down next to the couch. Scourge quickly leaned over it, poised to empty the contents of his stomach into it. He sat that way for more than a minute, looking positively ill while Zonic stood by. The slightly greener than usual hedgehog appeared like he would blow chunks any second, but it never came.

“I swear, I had to puke a second ago,” he muttered, his head still perched over the garbage can, incase talking triggered the potential waterfall to start flowing. “Like- like, when you have to sneeze, and you can feel it building up for ten  _ freaking _ minutes, and then-”

“You don’t have to sneeze anymore?” Zonic finished for him, rolling his eyes. He couldn’t help but crack a small smile.

_ “Yeah!” _ Scourge nodded. “And it’s like, you have to sneeze ‘cause there’s a load of  _ crap _ in there that needs to come out, right? But then… Poof. Where the hell does it go?!” He climbed back up so he was lying fully on the couch again as Zonic chuckled. And oddly enough, Scourge found himself joining in. It  _ was  _ sort of funny.

“Wait, are you laughing at  _ yourself _ because you can’t throw up?” Zonic asked, raising an eyeridge. “The infamous Scourge the Hedgehog, laughing at  _ himself?” _

Scourge stopped laughing and stared at him blankly for a moment. “Maybe I hit my head harder than we thought,” he said.

“Possible,” the Zone Cop shrugged, taking a seat on the coffee table. “Mood swings  _ are _ a symptom of concussions.”

“You serious? How many damn symptoms are there?” he groaned. He felt his stomach suddenly wretch, and he puked into the trash can.

“Apparently, a few,” the blue one cringed. Watching Scourge throw up was  _ not  _ doing anything to help his own stomach problems. “Looks like we’re going to be stuck with each other for a while,” he sighed. He wasn’t about to leave Scourge on his own like this, it just wasn’t right. Besides, the former king didn’t seem to be in a particularly bad mood. Maybe they could actually hold a decent conversation.

Scourge coughed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Looks like it,” he moaned. “Not like there’s much to do in this place when you’re concussed, anyway.”

“You’re not  _ supposed _ to do much. You’re supposed to rest.”

“Don’t wanna.” He sighed and laid back down, his blue eyes fixed on the ceiling. “So where’d you find that Chaos Emerald, anyway?”

Zonic glanced sideways at the yellow gem still lying on the kitchen table. His features fell a little bit. “Go Kart track. Thing was twenty feet in the air, had to speed off of one of the jumps to get enough air to grab it.”

“Huh. No kiddin’,” Scourge breathed as Zonic got up to fetch the Emerald in question. “Sniffed the damn thing out with just your dinky little radar…”

“At least my radar led me to the right place,” the Zone Cop scowled, picking the stone up off of the table and returning to the couch. Scourge raised an eyeridge.

“Jeez, touchy,” he said, reclining back in the couch and taking the Emerald from Zonic in both hands. The gem was warm and soothing to the touch, and its gentle pulsing calmed him. His head still hurt, but he could feel his nausea melting away. He sighed in relief. “Aw man… That’s better,” he said, closing his eyes. A light smile formed on his face.

“It’s… healing you?” Zonic asked quietly, sounding almost disappointed. His gaze fell to the floor.

“I don’t feel like throwin’ up anymore,” Scourge said, feeling relaxed and content thanks to the power of the Emerald in his hands. “I knew Chaos energy could help heal a guy, but I never knew it worked so good.”

Hearing this only seemed to make Zonic’s stomach hurt more. He had held the Emerald right up against his chest, and it hadn’t done anything for him.  _ Poser… Wannabe… _

The small communicator around his wrist beeped suddenly, derailing his train of thought. He answered quickly, not wanting to continue on with the conversation at hand. Looking at the small screen on the wrist-com, he saw that Sonic was the one calling him. Well,  _ that _ was certainly cause for concern.

“Sonic?” he asked, speaking into the microphone. “Is everything okay? Over.”

The conversation came to an end a minute or two later, and as soon as he hung up, Zonic used the wrist-com to call the older Tails, currently with mini-Sonic in Metal Harbor. He sure hoped they weren’t in trouble with G.U.N….

As he expected, the fox didn’t pick up, even after calling several times, just like when Sonic tried to get in touch with him. “Well, that’s not good,” Zonic breathed.

“What?” Scourge said, opening his eyes. He must have dozed off a little bit, and missed pretty much the whole conversation that his parole officer had had with Sonic.

“Tails and the younger Sonic aren’t picking up their communicators. No one knows what’s going on with them.”

“Oh. Well, if that’s all,” the green one lightly shrugged. Zonic shook his head and ignored him as the concussed hedgehog went back to his nap.

The cop wasted no time in calling Sonic back. “Tails and your younger self didn’t pick up,” he stated simply. “Sorry, Prime. Over.”

A sigh came from the other end. “Man, I hope they’re okay…Normally I wouldn’t worry, but Tails hasn’t seen any action in a while, and who knows what could be going on with little-me. You know, time-travel-weirdness-wise.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Zonic huffed. He didn’t remember his Prime self being this much of a worry wart. He chucked. “Sonic, have some faith in yourself, for Pete’s sake. Over.”

“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right. They can handle themselves. Guess I’m just being a little paranoid after I got hurt.”

“A little? What happened to that brave face you always wear, huh? Over.” The Zone Cop smirked.

“You’re me, dude. Why bother with all the bravado when I know you can see through that in an instant?” the speedster laughed.

“True. Still, I wouldn’t worry about them if I were you. They can handle themselves. But… why did you want to ask your past self if you got an Emerald in Mystic Caves before? Over.”

“I’ll tell you if you cut it out with that ‘over’ crap.”

“Force of habit, ov- sorry,” Zonic corrected himself.

“Haha, I’m just busting your chops,” the other hedgehog admitted with a chuckle. “Well, long story short, it turns out there’s actually  _ another  _ Sonic and Tails here right now. We think Mystic Caves got launched about nine years into the past.”

“Yikes,” the Zone Cop said, his eyes widening. “That’s no good.”

“You said it. Our doubles don’t know we’re here, but… I still wanted to know what routes to avoid, we don’t want to accidentally have a run in with mine and Tails’ past past selves. If I can’t ask little me what he remembers, I guess we’ll just have to play it by ear.”

“Alright. Good luck, and  _ please _ try not to cause any more time paradoxes!”

“Okay, okay,  _ mom _ . Don’t worry, Lil’ T and I got this covered. Later!”

o o o

Sonic rolled his shoulders after he hung up. He tucked his communicator back under the cuff of his glove. Well, this was certainly going to be interesting. “Hey, Lil’ T! Come on down!” he called up into the air, hoping the child hadn’t wandered off too far. He kept an ear out for the  _ thwapping _ of spinning twin tails, but he heard nothing but silence. He stepped out onto the road and looked up at the cave ceiling. Little Tails was nowhere to be seen. “Taaaiiiiils!!” Sonic shouted out, currently not caring if the past versions of himself and Lil’ T heard him. He got no reply. The hedgehog groaned. Could this get any worse? He kicked a small stone across the road.

_ ‘And I just told Z that I had this under control, too,’ _  he thought with a dissatisfied grunt.  _ ‘I mean, Lil’ T has his own communicator, so if he doesn’t turn up I can still get in touch with him. But what if trying to contact him gets him discovered by our other selves, or by Eggman? I’ll have to track him down on foot, just to stay on the safe side.’ _

Sonic looked around for something to climb. He could more easily track his young friend if he had a birds’ eye view of the area. There was a large wooden post nearby, the size of a tree trunk and covered in ivy. It stretched up to the top of the cave, acting as a support of sorts to prevent the ceiling from caving in. The blue blur ran straight up the pole with little difficulty, using the plant life growing on it as footholds. Since there was no where on the top of the pole to stand, he gripped the ivy tight in his hands and found the strongest vines to support himself with. He looked out at the expansive cave system. The lamps and fireflies scattered throughout made the place look shimmery and beautiful. The old roads and wooden bridges were becoming overtaken by plant life, and went on for as far as the eye could see. He could see a badnik or two lurking about, but not many. It looked like the younger Sonic and Tails duo had been getting some work done.

The grownup hedgehog smiled. He had a habit of never looking back, never thinking about his past. Keep moving forward, that was his motto, and he stuck to it. But now he was  _ in _ his past. Back when Eggman’s schemes were simpler, there were no horrifying god monsters to subdue, no alternate dimensions or timelines to worry about. It was just him and Tails fighting Eggman. At this point in his life, he hadn’t even met Knuckles or Amy yet. Everything was… simpler. Not necessarily easier, or better, of course. At eleven years old, Sonic had suddenly found himself with a young fox kit to take care of. He was still basically homeless, and didn’t exactly have a lot of money. But they still made it through alright.

Well, he did, anyway. Lil’ T still had yet to make that journey. The fox was only six years old- incredibly different to the fourteen that Sonic had become accustomed to. The hedgehog had never really noticed that Tails grew up. It happened so gradually, so subtly, that he hadn’t actively noticed the change until he met his brother’s younger self. There were some things that hadn’t changed over the years, naturally. The fox’s itch to learn new things, to help his friends, to try the impossible. But over the years, Tails had gotten crazy smart- almost impossibly so. He had grown strong, and brave, and confident. His sense of humor and his creativity were both more developed. The fox didn’t need Sonic to protect him or take care of him anymore. He was more than capable of handling a solo mission, and was no stranger to being home alone for extended periods of time; in fact, Sonic was away more often than he was home. He supposed he had never really realized how much his little brother had grown up, had come into his own. More than anything else, he supposed he was proud.

He huffed in frustration, the task at hand taking him out of his reverie. The fox-child was nowhere to be seen, even from the top of the support beam. Where could the kid have flown off to so quickly?  _ ‘Just don’t be neck-deep in trouble for once,’ _ the hedgehog hoped.


	16. Special Stage Strife

Meanwhile, mini-Tails was flying in between the stalactites hanging from the ceiling. He was weaving in and out of the stone spikes, looking out for his and Sonic’s doubles. He muttered under his breath, “I’m on patrol… I’m on patrol…” as he flew. He had decided that the easiest way to make sure the other Sonic and Tails weren’t coming was to go out and find them. He hadn’t seen them yet, but he thought he was headed in the right direction. He thought he could hear badniks being destroyed in the distance, which was a good sign.  _ ‘I wonder why Sonic doesn’t want me to talk to them,’  _ he thought.  _ ‘Me an’ him are from different times, and we can talk to each other. So why can’t I do anything with little me an’ little little Sonic?’ _ He pouted; he didn’t get it. Time travel was hard for him to wrap his head around.

“OH CRAP!!”came a shout from relatively close by. Tails stopped. That was Sonic, the younger one, he’d know that voice anywhere. He instinctively started to fly towards the source of the scream, but then he remembered what big Sonic had said about staying hidden. He hesitated. What should he do?

_ ‘Maybe I’ll just go and see what’s going on. Just to check,’ _ he thought. He dropped to the ground, opting to travel on foot to reduce the amount of noise he was making, and started to cautiously sneak towards where Sonic was.

The hedgehog wasn’t too far away, and easy to locate; he kept grunting loudly and calling out for Tails-  _ his _ Tails, the six-year-old had to keep reminding himself. He was getting closer and closer, until he and the young Sonic were separated only by a group of bushes and stalagmites. The fox peeked slowly over the shrubs, his dark eyes wide. Sonic was nowhere to be seen, but Tails could hear him struggling close by. The hedgehog could be heard grunting, “Ugh, come on… Tails!! Catch up, will ya… This is what I get for- urk- running ahead…!” Tails looked around, confused. Where was Sonic? He noticed a large pit in the ground not too far away, the remnants of a broken bridge hanging from one side. Uh oh. Tails looked around quickly to make sure his double wasn’t coming, and then rushed out of the bushes and ran over to the hole.

“Is someone there?” Sonic called out from inside the pit. He must have heard Tails’ footsteps as he approached. “Tails, that you up there?”

The fox hesitated before responding. He wasn’t supposed to let past-Sonic know he was there. But he couldn’t do nothing, this was his brother! And besides, he guessed he was only a year older than his double. He could pretend to be past-Tails, and past-Sonic would never know the difference. Cemented in his decision, he went right up to the edge of the pit and made himself known. “Sonic!” he said, kneeling down and looking in.

“Bud! There you are!” The young hedgehog’s face lit up with happiness and relief. He was holding desperately onto some vines that were hanging down the walls of the pit. Down at the bottom of the chasm were sharp spikes, threatening to impale anyone and anything that fell in. There was no way to possibly jump out of the hole, and even climbing out would prove to be difficult. Sonic was well and truly stuck.

“Don’t worry! I’ll save you!” Lil’ T exclaimed with a determined look on his face. The kit began spinning his twin namesakes until he lifted off the ground, and then flew into the pit without hesitation. Sonic was about ten feet down, halfway between freedom and a spiky death. Tails flew down until he was almost level with the hedgehog, and he extended his hand.

“Tails, you can’t carry me outta here! You’re not strong enough!” the younger Sonic exclaimed, still gripping the vines tight.

“I  _ can _ do it, just trust me!” the fox said almost commandingly, reaching out again.

Sonic gulped, looking conflicted. He wanted to believe and trust his friend, he really did. But in his mind, Tails was still just a reckless little kid, and he didn’t think the fox knew his limitations very well- especially how strong he was and how long he could fly.

“Dude, are you going to take my hand and let me fly you out of here or not?!” Lil’ T yelled, starting to get annoyed.

_ “If you drop me-” _

“I’m not gonna drop you! Jus’ hold on tight!” he said. Sonic reluctantly nodded and pulled his hand away from the wall, grabbing the fox’s wrist. Tails immediately started to ascend, pulling Sonic off of the ivy-covered patch of wall. He kicked his namesakes into overdrive, accelerating quickly until they were safely out of the spike pit. Sonic dropped to the ground, while Tails landed a few feet away.

“Thanks, bud,” the speedster breathed, taking a seat on the ground and resting. “You really saved my skin. When’d you get so good at flying?”

“I’ve always been good,” LIl’ T shrugged, not entire sure how to respond. He knew that older-Sonic would get mad if he let it accidentally slip that he was a time traveler.

“Yesterday you tried to fly me up a cliff and you dropped me about halfway up,” Sonic said, not for a second believing the fox in front of him. He eyed the child carefully. “... Did you get taller?”

“N-no! It’s ‘cause you’re sittin’ down, that’s all,” Tails said, crossing his arms over his chest. This was bad. He needed to get out of here and regroup with the twenty-year-old Sonic, and fast. “I-I gotta go to the bathroom, I’ll be right back!” he sputtered, trying to hide his nervousness. He turned and dashed into the bushes just as the communicator on his wrist started to beep. The fox ducked behind a large stalagmite protruding from the ground and covered up the wrist-com with his hand, trying to stifle the noise.  _ ‘Sonic picks the worst times to call!’ _ the child thought. He peeked out from behind the rock formation to see if the younger Sonic had come after him. He hadn’t. The hedgehog was still by the spike pit, standing with one hand on his hip and scratching his head with the other.  _ ‘Phew.’ _ Tails breathed a sigh of relief.  _ ‘That was close.’ _

With the most miraculous timing, the other Tails had finally caught up to his Sonic. The younger of the two foxes flew in from above, panting. “Well, that was fast,” the small hedgehog could be heard saying. Lil’ T couldn’t believe his luck. If he had tried to leave a second later, he would have had some  _ serious _ explaining to do. He held his breath and jogged away as quietly as he could. He only stopped when he felt comfortably out of earshot of his and Sonic’s doubles. He stopped a little ways off the road, ducking behind some more bushes, so that he could see someone walk by but they would not be able to see him.

He sat down to rest, realising that he was still covering the beeping wrist-com with his hand. He pulled his hand away, allowing the devices’ speakers to continue to beep unimpeded. Tails pressed a button on its side, accepting the call. “Hi, Sonic,” he said cheerily.

_ “Tails!!  _ Took you long enough!” the twenty-year-old hedgehog’s voice filtered through the speakers. HIs voice was much deeper than that of his younger-self, surprising a Tails a little bit at how different it was. The two voices still sounded so similar at their core, though; they were both equally Sonic. The voice spoke again. “Jeez, where the heck did you run off to, anyway?”

“Well, I kind of… ran into little-you,” the fox said with an overly-innocent voice.

“You  _ what?!” _

“The other me wasn’t there though! Little-you didn’t know I wasn’t me. Or, uh… That I wasn’t the me he thought I was. Um… this is hard,” the child said, struggling to figure out how to explain everything.

“It’s okay, I think I get what you’re saying. I don’t think you ripped open another massive hole in spacetime, so we’re good.” Sonic still sounded a bit uneasy, but he quickly hid it behind his trademark brave face. “Where are you right now? We should regroup.”

“Yeah! Um… hang on.” Tails poked his head out of the brush and looked around the road for landmarks. “Uh, there’s the road… There’s a bridge a little ways over there… Oh! There’s a lantern up there!”

The hedgehog sighed. “Just stay there, I’ll find you. I’m pretty sure Tails- oh, uh, older you- put tracers in these wrist-coms anyway. So just  _ stay put.” _

“Oh- _ kaaaay,” _ Lil’ T heaved a massive sigh.

“And you had the nerve to call  _ me _ a drama queen,” Sonic said, his voice tinged with a smile. “See you in a few, squirt.”

“See ya.”

Click.

ooo

“I’m bored.”

“I know you’re bored, Scourge. You’ve been complaining that you’re bored for the past half hour.”

“‘Cause I’ve been sitting here for freakin’ forever with nothin’ to do!”

“So take a nap.”

“Ain’t tired.”

“Then what the hell do you expect me to do?” the Zone Cop groaned. He was sitting in an armchair on the other side of the workshop’s living room, legs kicked lazily over the side of the chair. He had an open can of ginger ale in one hand, and his Zone Cop visor was down over his eyes. He was scanning the visual display, skimming through various news stories and police reports that were streamed right to his headset. Sitting down and resting were not his favorite pastimes. He was used to working all day, everyday. He was  _ not _ accustomed to sitting around with nothing to do, and he was  _ not _ happy about having to babysit an injured criminal.

He took a sip of his soda. He had hoped it would help his stomach stop doing cartwheels, but it wasn’t doing anything. That only served to put him in an even worse mood. What he would give to make this stomach ache go away…

“So what are you doing over there that’s so interesting, anyway?” the green one asked, his eyes pointed up at the ceiling.

“Checking the news,” Zonic replied in a bored, monotone voice. “Seeing how much of this world is unstable time-wise, checking what’s been going on in No Zone. That kind of thing.”

“Oh,” Scourge replied. He had been hoping for an answer that was  _ slightly _ more exciting. “Anything big going on?”

“Aside from a few more areas of Westside Island getting affected by the rip, not much.”

The blue-eyed hedgehog pouted. That wasn’t good news. Plus, his attempts at starting a conversation were being quickly and consistently shot down.  _ ‘This whole ‘talking to people’ thing is harder than I thought.’  _ He exhaled slowly.

The yellow Chaos Emerald was still in his hands, resting comfortably on his scarred chest. It pulsed calmly in time with his own heartbeat, something that Anarchy Beryl, Moebius’ version of the Chaos Emeralds, never did. Something about the Emeralds felt… warm, almost inviting. Anarchy Beryl felt cold, dark, and angry somehow. It made sense that the jewels from opposite worlds would feel like opposites, Scourge supposed. A lot of things about Mobius Prime were different from that of his homeworld. The little time he’d spent in Station Square was a good indicator of that. This world just felt happier than his. And frankly, he wasn’t sure if he was totally on board with that.

“Hey,” he decided to give conversation one more shot. “What’s been happening on Moebius since I’ve been gone?” he asked, looking over in Zonic’s direction.

“Dunno. Haven’t been keeping up with all the details,” the officer shrugged. “I do know that enough people had started calling the place Moebius that it’s become your planet’s actual name. So there’s that.”

Scourge grinned a sharp-toothed grin. “Sweet,” he said, crossing his legs satisfactorily. At least his world had the guts to get out of Mobius’ shadow, as he had done. He had refused to be an anti-Sonic on an anti-Mobius. His world was  _ real,  _  it didn’t just exist to serve as Mobius’ mirror. That was why he changed his name in the first place. He wanted to be the Prime  _ him _ , not some alternate  _ Sonic.  _ Of course, since his own personal rebranding, he had become a real villain, contrasting even more directly with Sonic’s heroism… But he also hadn’t been  _ Scourge _ for all that long, less than two years. He hadn’t actually had a lot of time to reinvent himself. The smile had faded from his face and he looked distantly into the Chaos Emerald sitting on his chest. Maybe “Scourge the Hedgehog” wasn’t exactly who he expected him to be.

“Oh, here’s something you’d want to know,” Zonic mentioned. “The Zone Cops put your pal Miles on the Most Wanted list. Reward for information on him is huge. The kid is practically running the Moebian black market for weapons and tech.”

“Why is that not surprising?” the green one sighed. “I send the joint spiralling into discord, he picks up the pieces and puts himself on top.”

“Yeah… Kid’s smart, I’ll give him that much.”

Scourge nodded. He kind of hated Miles. He had worked together with his world’s version of the two-tailed fox in the past. The kid was actually a core member of his old team, the Suppression Squad. Gods, that name was so lame now that he thought about it. It was no wonder everyone had turned on him and tried to kill him, with a gang name like that. It made perfect sense that Miles would take over as head honcho once Scourge left. The fox was as smart as Tails, and way more ruthless. He did whatever got him to the top in the quickest way possible, no matter who or what got in his way. “Good luck catching  _ him, _ ” Scourge said, “you’re gonna need it.”

His head started thrumming again, and he squeezed his eyes shut tight. He was starting to get pretty annoyed with this stupid concussion. He was sick of lying around nursing injuries; he’d been doing that for a year solid already. He wanted to get up, move around,  _ do something. _ Being stuck with nothing to do but  _ think _ not only hurt his head, but it was making him question who he was, who he wanted to be. Things he was  _ not  _ in the mood for thinking about at the moment. He sighed.

“I’m bored.”

“I know.”

o o o

It took Sonic about ten minutes to find his young friend. He hadn’t been able to figure out how to turn the tracer on or get it to work, so he carefully scoured over every square foot of the cave system, especially near bridges and lanterns. When he eventually did find Tails, he felt like he would have to rest soon or else his scar would start to really hurt again. He’d been running around too much, and his lungs were already starting to burn.

“Hi, Sonic,” the young Tails said as the blue blur approached his hiding place in the bushes. The fox had been fiddling with his wrist-com’s Chaos radar while he waited, and only looked up from his work for a split second to see Sonic walking up.

“Hey,” the hedgehog breathed, taking a seat next to the kit. “So, you met the other me, huh?”

“Yeah. You were about to fall into a pit of spikes, and I helped you out,” Lil’ T said nonchalantly.

“Oh,” Sonic shrugged. “Wait… That was  _ you?!”  _ he gasped, looking at him incredulously.

“See! I told you that the other-you never found out I’m a time traveler!” the kid said proudly, puffing out his chest and smiling widely. Sonic wrapped an arm around his small shoulders and brought him in for a noogie.

“I had just had a near-death experience! Why would my first instinct be, oh, maybe my baby bro is a time traveler?” he laughed as Lil’ T squirmed around in his arms.

“My point still stands!” the fox giggled, playfully swatting Sonic’s hand away. “I got to talk to the other you and nothin’ bad happened!”

“Yeah, ‘cause you got lucky, squirt,” the hedgehog said, releasing him from his grip. “What if the other  _ you _ saw you? We’ve got to be more careful.”

Tails’ face fell. “Aw, but Sonic-”

“No buts, kiddo,” the green-eyed one shook his head. He smirked. “C’mon, do it for an old geezer’s piece of mind.”

The fox laughed approvingly. “Okay!” he smiled, wrapping his arms around the other’s torso.

_ ‘Wow, he’s so tiny,’ _ the hedgehog thought amusedly.  _ ‘Kinda skinny, too… Wasn’t always easy to get three daily meals into the kid back then. No steady source of income, no real place to call home… I don’t think I ever realised how important a home was until we had one of our own. Tails, though…  _ My  _ Tails is almost as tall as me now. No doubt the kid’s going to be even taller than me soon, I’m more or less done growing. He’s still got puberty to look forward to. I still can’t believe he’s grown so much… that we’ve known each other for so long! It feels like we just met yesterday, but at the same time it feels like we’ve been best bros forever...’ _

“Uh, Mobius to Sonic, come in Sonic?” Lil’ T was waving his hand in front of Sonic’s face. The hedgehog snapped out of his thoughts and back to reality.

“Hm? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something, kind of zoned out.”

“You do that a lot.”

“Not usually this often,” he shrugged, “but I’ve had a lot to think about.” Sonic ruffled the springy bangs on the fox’s head and stood up. “Come on, we need to find that Emerald. It’s got to be around here somewhere.”

“While I was waitin’ for you, I was runnin’ some tests with the scanner,” Tails said, standing up and pointing to the device around his wrist. “It said there’s nothin’ here.”

“That’s weird… I didn’t feel anything when I was running around looking for you, either. And I looked all over this place,” Sonic tapped his foot on the ground. “But it’s got to be here somewhere, right? If time’s being all screwy, that means there’s an Emerald, doesn’t it? That’s been the pattern so far.” He led the small fox out of the bushes and onto the road, looking around first to make sure they were alone.

“So then where is it?” the young fox asked, looking up at him with large eyes. “Maybe it’s just not here, Sonic. Maybe older-me’s tracking algorithms were off.”

“No, it’s got to be here… We’re just not looking in the right place,” Sonic said, walking down the pathway. His eyes darted around, looking for any clue, some sort of sign. “Come on, think. Where would a Chaos Emerald hide? Where in the Mystic Caves would it want to go…?” He froze mid-step. He saw something in the distance. A tall, metal pole with a globe on its top. “A Star Post… That’s it! Duh!! Why didn’t I think of it before!”

“"What's it? Sonic, what are you talking about?" Lil' T asked, looking around in confusion.

"The Star Post! The Chaos Emerald-- it's got to be in the Special Zone! That's why your radar isn't picking it up, and that's why I can't sense it. It's in the Special Zone! Gah, it's so obvious!" The hedgehog leapt up excitedly like a small puppy. "Tails, how many rings do you have with you?"

"Um... twentyish?"

"Here, give them to me."

"Uh, okay." The fox quickly pulled the rings he had collected out of his fluffy namesakes and handed them to Sonic, who counted them up along with his own rings. He had to recount a few times to make sure he was getting all the numbers right, but after a minute or so the hedgehog smiled.

"Just a little over fifty. Perfect," he said, putting the rings away. "No sense waiting around here. We've got an Emerald to grab." He motioned for his young friend to follow him, and then took off towards the Star Post with excitement. Tails cheered and took off behind him, glad that they finally had a lead.

They approached the post. While the Star Posts had once stood tall over the hedgehog, they now bested him by only a few inches. He grinned. Sonic lightly punched the globe on top of the post, sending it spinning. A small portal opened up just above the Star Post, surrounded by bright swirling lights."Alright bud, you ready to get that Emerald and get out of here?"

"Let's do it to it!" Lil' T exclaimed, pumping his fists in the air. Sonic cringed slightly at hearing one of his old sayings, but quickly laughed it off.

"Okay then. Let's go!!" He grabbed the fox solidly by the hand and jumped straight up, flying through the portal. Everything faded to white, and the sounds of the Mystic Caves seemed to evaporate as the two made the journey to the Special Zone. They floated in the blinding white space for a few seconds, before a new world began to materialize around them. The two found themselves in a checkered half-pipe, filled with twists and turns and going far into the distance. Rings were scattered everywhere, clumped in large groups, and settled in large spiral formations through the pipe. In addition to the rings, landmines were sparsely located throughout the bizarre dimension as well. As soon as the world had completed materializing, a strange energy began to push Sonic and Tails forward, bringing them to a run. "Stay behind me!" Sonic said, glancing back at his bro. He knew full well how surprisingly hard the challenges of the Special Zone could be, and they only had one shot at getting the Emerald located at the end of the half-pipe.

A large sign overhead read in bright, flashing letters: "TOLL AHEAD. COLLECT 40 RINGS TO PASS." Alright, 40 rings wasn't so bad. They could handle that, no problem. Sonic ran through the first grouping of rings, collecting as many as he could with his arms outstretched. Tails followed close behind, grabbing any extra that he missed. The next group was coming up on the side of the pipe, so they ran to the right until they were running at a 90 degree angle to the ground. Due to the slightly reduced gravity of the Special Zone, they could stay running on the walls for extended periods of time without much consequence.  _ 'This is what it's like all the time for Zonic,' _ Sonic thought with a laugh as he ran through more rings. The half-pipe tilted downward in a steep descent. After going over the hill, the hedgehog saw something that made his eyes go wide.

At the bottom of the hill were time monsters. Lots of them. These weren't the weakling kind, either; these were the full-blown four-armed beasts like the one that had attacked in Windy Valley. Sonic frowned, grinding his teeth. He and Tails couldn't stop running, and they still had twenty more rings left to go before they reached the first Toll. There was no way they could stop and fight. There were too many monsters, and they were too strong for an injured hedgehog and a six-year-old fox to take on.

"Sonic!" Lil' T gasped, seeing the monsters laid out in front of them. "What do we do now?!"

"Well, I hate to run away from a fight," the blue one grimaced, "but I think I'll have to make an exception. Go for this next patch of rings, then move up to the ceiling!"

"Okay!" Tails nodded. "Don't forget to keep moving, or else you'll get dragged back down!" he shouted ahead.

Sonic acknowledged his advice, and lined himself up with the first line of rings. He dashed through them expertly, adding them to his steadily growing total. Lil' T picked up the few he had missed. There was another group of rings approaching them quickly, but the monsters were approaching faster. Rather than go for the extra insurance with the rings, the two were forced to pull some evasive maneuvers, quickly running up the side of the halfpipe and up to the top. They were now sprinting on what was basically thin air, though their momentum from having flown up the side was keeping them going. They wouldn't be able to stay up top for long- they would soon begin to fall, and falling down would be catastrophic. Time monsters were passing underneath them, and the beasts were reaching their arms up to try and grab the heroes. Monsters were attempting to climb up the sides of the tube, but since they weren't moving forward at a constant pace like Sonic and Tails were, they were stuck at the bottom. Sonic grinned, enjoying being just out of the monsters' reach. It was fun to see them frustrated, especially after all the grief they had caused him over the past few days.

"Sonic, we gotta move!" Lil' T reminded him, snapping him out of his reverie. He looked for an opening on the ground, and possibly some more rings for them to grab before they approached the first Toll. By pure luck, there was a clear path back down the tube twenty feet ahead, lined with rings.

"Down there!" the hedgehog shouted, pointing at the path he had scoped out. He didn't have time to see if Lil' T saw where he pointed. He only had one opportunity to run back down the side of the pipe before he fell down, and this was their best shot. He started heading right, running down the side of the tube until he was at a 90 degree angle again, and then slid gracefully back down to solid ground. Tails followed behind him closely, barely dodging the waving arms of the monsters and any gooey projectiles they might be firing.

"Aw man, these guys are shooting goo!" the child shouted, squirming a little bit and drawing his arms in closer to his body. He ran through the path after Sonic, collecting the rings that his older big brother missed. The path led them narrowly through a clearing in the groups of monsters, and back up the opposite side of the halfpipe.

"Okay, I think we have enough rings to keep going," the emerald-eyed hero yelled. He didn't want to turn his head and risk taking his eyes off of the crowded road ahead. The number of monsters was luckily starting to lessen a bit for the time being; they were approaching the first Toll Gate. "We'd better have enough, I would hate to have to do this again...!" He held his breath as he and Tails ran through the gate. He didn't feel himself being forced to slow down, which was a good thing. A sign appeared over them again, this time saying "TOLL APPROACHING. COLLECT 90 RINGS."

"We gotta get 50 more?!" Lil' T groaned, his legs working overtime to keep up with the older Sonic's brisk pace.

"Not quite, we got a few extra the first time around. Just keep an eye out!"

There were still monsters in this part of the course, but luckily none of them were moving around much- they seemed to be pretty stuck to their places. This meant that they could be treated like regular obstacles, such as bombs, making them much less of a threat in the runners’ minds. They just had to watch out for each monsters’ two sets of vicious arms, and tail, and projectile snot.

Sonic and Lil’ T collected several more groups of rings, jumping over the heads of the monsters in order to get to the next group faster. At one point, the young fox got hit by one of the creatures, but he only dropped a handful of rings and didn’t sustain much damage. Further down the line, the rings abandoned their clustered groupings and spread out into two single-file lines, each one twisting around the entirety of the pipe in opposite directions, like a double helix almost. There was no way for one person to get all of the rings. Luckily, though, there were few enough monsters and bombs in this part of the tube that Sonic was comfortable grabbing one line of rings while having Tails break off and grab the other. They both missed plenty at first; the spirals were arranged so that it was tricky to travel around the tube at the just the right speed. They couldn’t just gun it, run around the tube as quickly as they could, and have it so that they grabbed every ring. They needed to limit themselves, take it easy on the spins. This was something both of them had done before, so once they got the hang of the timing, both hedgehog and fox collected most of the rings in his line before regrouping just before the Toll. Again, holding their breath as they passed under the glowing arch signifying the end of a section, they both hoped to Chaos that they had snagged enough of the small, golden halos in order to pass. They found themselves suddenly slowing down. "Did we not have enough?" Tails asked, looking up to see if there was a "TOO BAD" sign hanging above their heads. He saw nothing however, except their collective ring total. It was more than the 90 they had needed to get through the Toll, so what was the deal? Why were they slowing down?

"We can't be at the Emerald already, these things usually have three Tolls. Right?" Sonic said, slowing down to just a jog. "We only went through two. What's going on here?"

They felt the pressure from both ahead and behind which kept them running at the same pace suddenly disappear, and the lights floating above the half-pipe, illuminating the Special Zone and giving the place a carnival-ish air, went dim. The duo came to a stop, confused.

"What in the..." Sonic stammered, looking around. Nothing like this had ever happened before, in  _ any _ version of the Special Stage he'd visited. You didn't just  _ stop. _ You either succeeded or failed, there was no in between.

"... Is the Special Stage broken?" Lil' T wondered quietly, looking up at the dimmed lights. It felt they were in an amusement park after hours. The place was supposed to be filled with bright colors and lights and movement, but now that they were at a standstill and the lights were off, the colorful checkerboard half-pipe felt... dead.

"I don't think the Zone itself is broken..." the hedgehog said, furrowing his brow. "Think about what's been going on lately. All those time monsters we passed..."

"Are you saying  _ time stopped? Here? _ I thought that stuff was only happening on Mobius!"

"Apparently it's happening here too. We must be getting close to the Chaos Emerald. On your toes." Sonic balled his fists and looked around sharply to make sure there weren't any creatures approaching. "Grab any rings you see, just in case. The Tolls might still work, even without time."

"Good idea... Wouldn't want to get kicked out of this place by accident. Even though it is kinda creepy..." the fox muttered under his breath, his twin namesakes twitching about nervously. Sonic suddenly remembered that Westside Island itself made Tails a bit uneasy, and this was certainly not helping.

"It's okay if you're scared, you know," he said, glancing down at the kit. "Nothing to be ashamed of."

_ "You _ don't get scared," the child responded in turn, sounding almost accusatory.

"Hey, since when do I not get scared?" the hedgehog chuckled. "Is it 'cause I'm a grownup or something? Grownups don't get scared?"

"It's 'cause you're Sonic. An' you're not scared of nothing. Remember? You told me that when we met."

"Did I?" Sonic tried to think back to that day. It was normally something he remembered quite well, but he was having a hard time visualizing it. "Huh, having a hard time remembering, actually. I haven't been able to remember a whole lot today, have I...? Anyway, the point is, I  _ do _ get scared. So don't feel bad if you feel scared, too."

Tails seemed a bit reassured by this, and nodded. He put on a solid, confident expression. He wasn't going to let any dumb monster faze him. "What are you scared of then?"

“What am  _ I  _ scared of?” the blue one cracked a grin. “You already know that. Water.”

“ _ All  _  water?”

“If it’s enough for me to fall into and not get back out again, yeah. Now  _ that’s  _ scary.” He shuddered for emphasis, thinking back to the giant fountain he jumped into yesterday to grab a Chaos Emerald.

“Is that the only thing you’re scared of?” Lil’ T asked skeptically. Sonic shrugged.

“Nah, but I think that’s a conversation for another time.” He reached his arm up to grab some rings that were on the side of the tube. They  _ bling _ ed out of sight, almost in slow motion. “Huh. Wacky,” he said with a smirk. He continued to hold his arm up so he could collect the rest of them and looked off into the distance. He groaned. There were more monsters further down the tube. “More of these losers?”

“Yeah, and now we actually gotta fight ‘em,” Lil’ T said, an annoyed note in his voice.

“Joy… And we can’t afford to lose any rings. Which means we need to get through them without taking a hit.” Sonic hugged an arm around his chest subconsciously. Sure, the last time he fought one of these bigger monsters, he was cocky and underestimated his opponent. But even so, his usual confidence was waning. Getting through the large gang of monsters ahead  _ and  _  retaining all of his rings seemed to be too much to ask for. “Tails, you’re on ring duty,” he said decisively. “Grab any rings that I drop, and any more that we pass. Keep our total up, and  _ don’t _ get hurt. I’ll handle the fighting.”

“But Sonic, I wanna fight too!” Lil’ T protested, pouting angrily.

“No buts, bud. I’m the grown-up, I make the rules.” Not accepting any more arguments, the hedgehog cracked his knuckles and got down low, prepared to sprint at a moment’s notice. “Remember, we need as many rings as we can get if we want to get that Chaos Emerald. Be careful.” He nodded towards the fox before taking off at full speed towards the group of monsters that lie ahead of him. His feet pounded hard against the checkerboard surface of the tube. He was just approaching the sound barrier when he leapt high into the air, swinging his foot up to kick one of the monsters solidly in the head. The near-supersonic kick practically blasted the beast’s head clean off its shoulders, and it fell to the ground, dead. Kind of a cheap shot in Sonic’s mind, but he didn’t have time to fight fair. The other monsters-- there looked to be about six or seven of them at least-- all immediately turned towards him. This was starting to look like a very stupid idea.

Refusing to let himself be surrounded, he circled the tube, too fast for the time monsters to possibly follow. His brain was moving even faster than his feet, thinking of possible moves to make several moves in advance. He jumped off the wall, curling in on himself and spinning rapidly, and collided with the skull of another creature, sending it crashing to the floor. He used his momentum to spindash back up the wall of the half-pipe, turn around, and race back down, taking out another monster’s legs. Sonic got up, stumbling a little bit as his chest screamed in shocking pain. In the split second he spent wincing, one of the creatures still standing charged at him and knocked him hard into the wall. Several rings burst out of him and fell to the floor with metallic  _ cling _ s when he impacted the side of the tube. He groaned as he slid back down to the floor, recollecting some of the scattered rings as he did so.

“Sonic!” Lil’ T gasped, spinning his tails. He was getting ready for take-off, prepared to help his friend back up, when Sonic stopped him.

“Hold back!” the hedgehog gasped, the breath having been knocked out of him. He held his hand out, telling Tails to wait. He knew he had told his friend to go for the rings, but now the monsters were closing in. It wasn’t safe enough at the moment.

Sonic swung his legs around in a fashion similar to breakdancing, dissuading the monsters from getting any closer to him. Giving himself a bit of space to breathe, he jumped to his feet and got moving again. Keeping still was a deathwish, apparently. There were still five of the time monsters still able to fight, and it looked like more were coming from further down the tube. “Seriously?” the blue one groaned. He didn’t like these odds, not in the slightest. He homing attacked creature after creature, but even direct hits to the head weren’t doing much damage, if any. He needed to build up a lot more speed, and he didn’t have the room to do so without making himself sick from doing constant loop-de-loops. If there were only one or two of these monsters, maybe repeatedly homing attacking them would work. But there were way too many to take them all on one at a time.

The hedgehog was suddenly grabbed from behind; a large clawed hand gripped around his arms and torso. He felt himself being lifted up, and he struggled, kicked his feet, and tried to break free. He was unable to, and the monster holding him started to crush him. He was thrown into the wall again, only this time he hit the top of the half-pipe, and actually went over the edge. The next thing he knew, he was holding on to the outside edge of the half-pipe, with nothing below him but space.  _ ‘What the… I didn’t even know you could get out here!’  _  he thought, looking down at the emptiness below him.  _ ‘I think I liked it better back in the pipe, surrounded by Time Eater Jr’s. Time to get out of here!’  _ He pulled up, trying to get an elbow up on the ledge so he could hoist himself up; it felt like something was pulling him down, though, like he was fighting gravity where there shouldn’t have been any.

His fingers were starting to scream, and his gloves didn’t have much grip on the smooth pipe surface. He needed to get back up quick before he fell, or worse-- he gave the monsters enough time to get to Tails. He grunted, straining his muscles even harder. He was  _ not _ going to let that happen. He placed his feet against the curved wall of the half-pipe and pushed off, gaining a little bit of lift. It was enough to offer his straining fingers some relief, but not much else. He kicked off harder this time.  _ ‘Bingo!’  _ He’d gotten enough height to get his forearm over the edge, and from there, he was able to pull himself up to his elbows, and from there, the rest of his upper body. He swung a leg over the threshold and tumbled back into the tube, aching and sore. His chest was on fire through the bandages, but he didn’t have time to be concerned about that. He looked around for Tails, who was airborne and dodging the slime projectiles fired at him by the temporal beasts.

Sonic stood up, panting. “Yo, uglies!” he yelled, gaining the monsters’ attention. “If you want to get rid of me, you’re gonna have to come up with something better than tossing me into space!”

“Sonic!” Lil’ T exclaimed, a wide smile bursting onto his face. He had clearly been worried that the blue blur had fallen into the void, never to return.

The monsters, shocked by Sonic’s reappearance and deciding that he was worthier prey, gave up on trying to shoot Tails down. They started moving towards the hedgehog, determined to finish what they had started. Sonic gulped.  _ ‘Right. Lots of strong monsters that I was barely able to beat two of. Almost forgot,’ _ he thought. “Lil’ T! New plan! We’re making a run for it!” he shouted to his flying younger brother.

“Good plan!” the fox called back, taking off down the tube in the direction of the Emerald. The hedgehog followed, running just as the large collection of monsters started to close in on him. He raced down the half-pipe as fast as he could without his chest exploding, not even looking for rings at this point. He was swerving so wildly around the twists and turns of the pipe, however, that he ran into plenty of them anyway. Tails stayed in the air, grabbing the rings near the top of the pipe.

“Sonic! There’s more monsters ahead!” the fox kit said, pointing farther off down the track,

“I see ‘em! Don’t stop moving!” Sonic ordered, looking ahead. His eyes darted around as he counted up the beasts they were approaching. Twenty. There were at least twenty monsters in their path, and ten more coming up from behind. Stopping to fight meant taking on thirty time monsters at once. Even if he wasn’t injured, that would be way too many to fight single-handed. He just hoped these monsters would leave him enough space to run in between them.

He grabbed some rings as they rushed by, and then jumped high into the air. He cleared the heads of the first few monsters, taking them by surprise. Lil’ T, flying above him, grabbed his hands and carried him, keeping him out of harm’s way. “Need a lift?” the fox commented with a smirk.

“Thanks, Tails! But we’re not out of the woods yet.”

“Yeah! You’re really heavy!” he grunted. “You gotta stop eating so many chili dogs!”

Sonic gasped dramatically. “No more chili dogs? How could my own brother suggest such a thing? I’m hurt,” he said, acting like he was tearing up.

“Shut up before I drop you!”

“Jeez, touchy much?” the hog grinned. The monsters below started firing their slime up at the two, attempting to shoot them down. A few of the repulsive shots were uncomfortably close to their target. “You can’t dodge these things and carry me at the same time!” the blue one said. “Try using Thundershoot!”

_ “What?” _

“Throw me at one of those monsters as hard as you can!”

“You could have just said so!” the child said with exasperation. He launched Sonic downwards, directly towards one of the many creatures below. With the added momentum from Tails’ throw, as well as the force of gravity on his side, Sonic was able to muster up enough energy into a homing attack to seriously injure the monster he hit. The time monster roared as it collapsed to the floor, and Sonic uncurled to continue running as he dropped to the ground as well.

As soon as he landed and his feet started to move, he shut out everything else but his instincts and his reflexes. There were too many enemies, each with too many arms and legs, and too many attacks and projectiles flying every which way. He wove between and under legs, around arms, over tails, through gaps in the wall of temporal ooze that was trying to kill him.

Something else grabbed at his attention. There was something in the air… Sonic recognized it easily as Chaos Energy. The Emerald was close, he could feel it. All they needed to do was make it just a little bit further, get to the Emerald... then they would be able to warp out of the Special Zone and escape the horde of monsters chasing them.

The monsters' ranks finally started to thin out a little bit, and Sonic no longer had to dodge something every other second. He allowed his focus to drift slightly, and gave the beasts wider berth. He dashed through another group of rings, the small halos slowly fading and entering his body as pure energy. "Hey!" Lil' T yelled from above. Sonic looked up. "Is that where the rings always go when you grab 'em?"

"Uh, yeah!" the hedgehog said, focusing back on the path ahead of him. "Turn into energy and vanish, like the Emeralds."

"So THAT'S how you hold so many at once!"

"Yeah-- less talking, more running!" the blue one yelped, ducking and sliding under the swinging arm of a nearby time monster. He ran up the side of the pipe again, being careful not to run off of the physical pipe itself; he knew he fell out last time only because he was thrown, but he still didn't want to risk it. He didn't know if he could pull himself back up again. Sonic was hurting big time. His chest felt ready to explode, his lungs and ribs were burning, and even his legs were starting to get tired. _ 'What the heck? My legs almost never get tired, this should be an easy jog! I guess I'm in even worse shape than I thought,' _ he thought glumly. To get his mind off of his worsening physical condition, he focused on the energy radiating from the Chaos Emerald. Just a little more... It had to be coming up soon, any corner now and they would see the Toll telling them that they had made it...

His prayers were answered. After running through several more rings, Tails pointed it out in the distance. "The last Toll!" he said excitedly. He had been flying for a while, and just like Sonic, he was eager for a rest. "Do we have enough rings?"

"No clue! Come on, this is the final push!" the hedgehog breathed, pushing his legs to the limit. He reached an arm out, trying to cross the threshold as quickly as he possibly could. He needed to stop, now. The Toll was approaching, the golden orbs signifying it bobbing slowly in mid-air.  _ 'Please be enough, please be enough, come on...!' _

All at once, it seemed like he and Tails were through the Toll, the lights came back on, the world started moving again. It felt like everything that was stagnant and dead was suddenly alive again. Looking back, Sonic saw that none of the monsters were following them-- they hadn't been able to make it past the Toll. The two brothers, smiling and panting, put on the brakes and came to a stop.

“The Special Stage isn’t broken anymore!” the young fox kit cheered, landing with both feet on the ground.

“Those monsters are stuck behind the Toll… They can’t affect the time stream out here,” Sonic gasped, out of breath. “Convenient.” He bent over at the waist, his arm wrapped around his chest. Now that he had stopped running, his fatigue had caught up with him. He coughed excessively, his insides on fire and his throat closing up. He never felt this way after a run, ever. Even when he went for a run around the world, he felt more or less fine. What on Mobius was going on with him?

“Come on Sonic, get up! The Chaos Emerald is just a little farther!” Lil’ T said, grabbing the hedgehog by the arm and pulling him towards the gem they had been searching all day for.

“Yeah…” Sonic wheezed and coughed again. He looked up at the fox, and then at the Emerald. It was the cyan one. The sky blue light filtering out from it felt both welcoming and soothing, so he let Tails drag him along with little resistance. Oddly enough, the closer Sonic got pulled to the Emerald, the more relief he felt. By the time he was ten feet away from it, he could breathe again. He stood upright, still weary, but now able. He grinned down at his young friend before gripping his fingers around the floating stone. Everything around them faded to white as they exited the Special Zone. "Take us to the workshop in the Mystic Ruins, will ya?" Sonic whispered to the Emerald playfully. "I'm pooped. Can't walk another step." He didn't have any idea whether his request would work or not. Even if it didn't, he could just call on Zonic to open a portal for them. However, when the world rematerialized around them, he and Lil' T found that they were no longer in Mystic Caves, but inside the workshop's living room. Once they had safely landed in their destination and the Emerald's energy went back to rest, Sonic looked around, shocked to see Scourge and Zonic sitting there, apparently in the middle of a conversation. "Huh," he said amusedly. "That was a quick flight back."


	17. Something Old, Something New

After returning from their excursion to Westside Island, Sonic and Lil' T sprawled out on the available pieces of living room furniture, exhausted. Even after getting some of his strength back when he approached the Emerald, the speedster still felt like he needed a nap and some aspirin. He staved off sleep, however, in order to tell Zonic and Scourge his story, omitting the parts about him not being able to run like he normally could- he didn’t exactly feel like mentioning that just yet- and to listen to their own tale. He was pleasantly surprised to hear that Zonic had been the one to find Twinkle Park's Emerald, and even more surprised to learn that Scourge had somehow gotten a concussion at the park. 

"How the heck did you manage that?" Sonic asked, tossing the light blue Emerald up in the air and catching it repeatedly. He was sitting sideways in one of the living room’s plush armchairs, with his legs dangling over the side and his head nestled in its back.

"Hit my head, genius," the green hedgehog grumbled, mindlessly fiddling with his own Emerald. The two gems were glowing brightly, happy to be close to one another.

"Be more specific, wise guy."

"Big fight on a moving roller coaster,” Scourge scowled. “Damn thing turned and I didn't see it coming. Fell and hit my head. Happy?" He turned his head to face Sonic, looking very annoyed.

"Jeez, no need to get snotty about it," Sonic shrugged. The injured Moebian flinched slightly at the mention of his old nickname from Zone Jail, but no one seemed to notice.

"Y-Yeah, well I'm not the only one who got caught off-guard today," he said, quickly covering up his cringe with a laugh and glancing towards Zonic. The Zone Cop shook his head, looking a bit flustered.

"Oh no, you are not to say a WORD of that," he said, his face growing hot. Sonic couldn't help but slyly smile.

"Why, what happened?"

_ "Nothing  _ happened!" Zonic insisted. This only made Scourge laugh harder.

"Oh, I'll tell you what happened. What happened wa- hmmph!!"  The green hedgehog’s mouth was suddenly slapped shut by Zonic, whose visage was now bright red. 

“I said  _ nothing happened,” _ the Zone Cop said bitterly through clenched teeth, his eyes narrowed to slits.

Scourge pulled Z’s hand away from his mouth and continued laughing. “Fine, fine. I won’t say anything, _ loverboy.” _ He smiled and rested his hands behind his head in relaxed victory while Zonic crossed his arms, huffing in frustration.

_ “Loverboy?” _ Sonic said incredulously. “Man, now I’m  _ really _ curious. Z, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you look this embarrassed before!”

“I’m not embarrassed, it’s nothing!” Zonic said, annoyed. “Look, let’s just forget about it. Back to the Mystic Caves, what do you think was the deal with the other Sonic and Tails?” he asked, changing the subject.

“Jeez, I don’t even know. I guess Mystic Caves had its clock turned back or something?” Sonic rubbed his temples with his fingers. “Man,  _ that _ was a headache,” he said. Scourge groaned.

“How many freakin’ Sonics and Tailses  _ are _ there, anyhow?” he whined. “I can barely handle one of each, and now there’s what, three? At least? Not even counting me and the Slowpoke Wonder.”

“I doubt we’ll run into them again,” Sonic shrugged, catching the cyan gem again. “They’ll probably just stay on Westside Island. As far as they know, they’re still in their own time. Best not get them involved.”

“Agreed,” Zonic said. “A bigger rip in the time stream is the  _ last _ thing we need.” The conversation fell into a lull, and silence filled the room. The only sound to be heard was the heavy snowflakes lightly tapping the window outside. “So... what do we do now?”

Sonic sighed. There wasn’t much  _ to _ do, he supposed. He could hardly move, Scourge was hurt, Lil’ T had been dozing off for the past several minutes, and even Zonic seemed a bit uneasy, though by what he couldn’t exactly be sure. Not to mention, they had no leads as to the locations of the other Chaos Emeralds. It seemed like all they could do for the time being was to sit and watch as the world slowly fell into timeless discord.

“Well,” he shrugged nonchalantly, “I’m exhausted. Green’s hurt. Let’s all take a breather and wait for Tails and my younger self to get back.”

o o o

Later that night, after much well-deserved napping, relaxing, and healing, the group had a dinner of leftovers and whatever else they could find in the fridge and the pantry. The workshop was starting to run low on food; of course, there were some rations in the basement in case of an extreme emergency, but MRE’s couldn’t hold a candle to a home-cooked meal (or even leftover take out, for that matter). The snow was making it impossible for them to go into Station Square to get more and stock up, but Zonic reassured everyone that as long as he had his teleportation belt, getting food wouldn’t be an issue.

“Oh! That reminds me,” Sonic said, stuffing his mouth full of food. He and the others were eating in the living room (the kitchen table was too small to fit them all, and Scourge didn’t want to get up from the couch). The TV was playing a news report on the monster attacks, urging people to remain indoors until further notice. A bright red graphic in the corner of the screen read DAY 3. "Shomtin wurd wush hupnin in da Speshuh Shone."

"Swallow," Zonic groaned. His own food was untouched, simply pushed around the plate.

The speedster complied, quickly gulping down the huge mouthful of food. "Something weird was happening in the Special Zone," he said, his mouth now clear of obstruction.

"The Special Zone? What were you doing there?"

Lil' T smiled and piped up, "That's where the Chaos Emerald was!" His face was covered in sauce from the food, making his white fur look orangish and sticky.

"Yeah, and time was stopped there," Sonic said. "The Time Eater's cronies were able to invade, and while we were running through the place, time stopped for a little bit."

The news hit Zonic like a ton of bricks. "They were able to get into the Special Zone?" he gasped, dropping his fork into his plate.

"Uh, yeah. Thought you might want to know," the Prime Zoner shrugged, already poised to shove more food into his mouth. "Why, is that bad? I mean, it's bad, but is it REALLY bad?"

"Yes, that is REALLY bad!" Zonic exclaimed. He got to his feet and grabbed his helmet off the coffee table. "If they can get into the Special Zone, who knows what other Zones they can get into? And if these guys can Zone hop... There's no place in the multiverse that's safe."

"Yikes," Scourge said nonchalantly, stuffing more food in his mouth.

"Oo shud rulleh- You should really be more concerned about this, you know," Sonic swallowed mid-sentence, turning to face his bad twin. "If the multiverse is taken over by these guys, what will be left for you to rule?" he smirked. Scourge was about to say something rude in response, but Zonic talked over him.

"Not to mention,  _ every _ one in  _ every _ world will be in massive peril," he said, slipping his helmet on over his head and flipping down the visor. "I need to report this in ASAP... Call in a total Zone Lockdown. Make extra sure these things can't escape Mobius Prime." He fiddled with some of the buttons on the side of the earphones and walked out of the room to make the call. His face, obscured by the visor, looked grim.

"Sonic? What's a Zone Lockdown?" Lil’ T asked, playing with the food in front of him rather than eating it.

Sonic thought for a second about the best way to explain the complicated dimensional physics to a six-year-old. "Well... You know how Zonic is a Zone Cop?"

"Space Police, yeah. I got that."

"Well, all the different worlds out there-- our world, Scourge's, Zonic's, and all the others-- they're connected by something called the Cosmic Highway. It's kind of exactly what it sounds like; a giant highway with portals that lead to different worlds."

"Okay, I think I get it so far..."

"Basically, what Zonic's doing is telling the other... Space Police... to block off all the roads in the Cosmic Highway so that no one can travel on it. If everyone stays in their own Zones, then everything should be fine, and the whole rip in time thing should be confined just to Mobius Prime. Get it?" Sonic rustled his hand through the kid's springy bangs.

"Uh... sort of?" the fox kit said, clearly having been lost on that last part.

"Don't worry, I didn't get it when Z first explained it to me, either," Sonic sighed.

“Hey,” Scourge called to them from the couch, from which he hadn’t moved all afternoon. “Will you two stop talking quantum physics for a sec and toss me another one of those sauce packets?”

“Quantum physics would be easier to understand, I think,” Lil’ T said, picking up a plastic packet of sauce and tossing it towards him.

“Hey, I didn’t do that bad a job,” Sonic  _ hmph _ ed before polishing off his plate.

After their quick and informal dinner (Zonic never actually ate, but his emergency call went well) and an hour or two of flipping through channels on the TV, almost everyone went up to bed. Sonic was still inexplicably exhausted from his earlier sprint through the Special Zone, so he clocked out pretty quickly. He shuffled upstairs to his bedroom, mumbling something about his chest still aching. Scourge went up next-- he was getting bored laying on the couch, and decided it was time to get some real sleep instead of just dozing off for a few minutes at a time. He plucked the yellow Chaos Emerald up off the living room coffee table, hoping that keeping it near while he slept would help to heal his head faster. Zonic was naturally suspicious, so Lil’ T tried to reassure him by going up to bed as well. Both the concussed hedgehog and the young fox would take the bunk bed, and Tails double super promised to make sure that Scourge wouldn’t Chaos Control away with the Emerald. It wasn’t long before Zonic was the only one left downstairs.

He sat down on the battered old couch, thankful for the quiet and the privacy. He felt awful. His stomach hadn’t gotten any better-- in fact, it had gotten worse. He’d done his best to hide his pain and suck it up, but it was getting tough. He pulled his knees up to his chest and curled his arms around his stomach.  _ ‘Can I go ahead and die now?” _ he thought.  _ ‘I’m in a dying sort of mood. I think today is one of those ‘just take me now’ days.’  _ He felt like he’d swallowed a hungry piranha that was now trying to eat his stomach from the inside out. He couldn’t remember the last time he had a stomach ache this bad.  _ ‘What the hell’s going on…? Why do I feel like my guts are on fire? Because this sure isn’t food poisoning from some crappy amusement park hotdog.’ _ The Zone Cop groaned as his gut twisted. He undid his belt and set it aside, hoping maybe that would help. It didn’t. While he was at it, he kicked off his boots too, and pulled his hands out of his gloves and gauntlets.

He was thinking of following the lead of the others and hitting the hay. There seemed to be nothing he could do to improve his condition, so perhaps sleeping it off was the best course of action. Medicine, ginger ale, even the Chaos Emeralds weren’t doing anything for him. He was starting to ache, and he felt some pressure in his head too. As the minutes ticked on, sleep was starting to sound better and better.  _ ‘Well, if I can’t be dead, asleep is the next best thing,’ _ he supposed. He pulled off his red jumpsuit, revealing the tight-fitting black t-shirt and pants he wore underneath. He slumped down onto the sofa, dragging the throw blanket over him as he sunk to a lying down position. Miraculously, he was asleep almost as soon as his head hit the couch cushion.

o o o

It was nearing 2 o’clock in the morning, and nearly everyone in the workshop was asleep. Scourge was snoring soundly in the top bunk in Tails' room, while the younger incarnation of the fox snoozed blissfully in the bottom bed. Next door, Sonic was sleeping, but just barely. It had taken him a long time to slip into his light slumber, and his scar was still irritating him. He couldn't get comfortable enough to drift off into a deep sleep, and he kept waking up every hour or so. Meanwhile, downstairs, Zonic was in a similar situation. His stomach was a bit better, but that seemed to be because the pain spread from his gut to just about everywhere else. His whole body was aching and sore, and it felt as if he had been beaten to a pulp and lightly jolted with electricity. His head was pounding, each heartbeat bringing only more pain, and it felt like the room was spinning out of control. He tossed and turned under the large blanket, trying to get comfortable on the couch. No matter how hard he tried, he just couldn't relax.

He groaned. The pain was coursing through his body fast and hard, like his blood had turned to acid and he was being burned from the inside. Why did he hurt like this? It made no sense. All he knew was that he felt terrible.

This whole ‘sleep it off’ thing just wasn’t working. He slowly sat up and rubbed his eyes. He immediately noticed that something was different… that something was very wrong.  _ ‘This… These aren’t my hands,’ _  Zonic thought, yanking them away from his face.  _ ‘Oh my gods what’s going on these aren’t my hands.’ _  He tried to look at his hands, see what had happened, but it was pitch black. He reached an arm out to the lamp on the small table next to the couch. The lamp was farther away than he remembered, and his fingers fumbled with the switch. When it turned on, the light burned his eyes, like he’d just been poked in the retinas.

He blinked, squinting to block out the light. Once he could see, he looked down at his hands. They were way smaller than they were supposed to be.  _ ‘What’s going on…? I need something to drink. I’m probably just still dreaming...’ _

"Whoa," he breathed as he stood up. He felt like he was standing in a hole. Everything looked taller, the room itself seemed bigger, and he could have sworn that his pants weren't this loose when he went to bed.

"What the heck-" he slapped a hand over his mouth. That wasn't his voice... was it? He was breathing hard now, and starting to panic. What the hell was happening? It did sound a little bit like him, but… higher-pitched.

"O-okay, what's going on?" he muttered. "Because something is very wrong here." He looked down at himself. His clothes had grown several sizes too large and were draping over his body like dark sheets. He was skinny, but not unhealthily so. His arms were also a lot thinner, and felt strangely weak. His legs and feet were buried, consumed under all the black fabric. He shakily stooped down to roll up his pants. His fingers were barely cooperating. His bare feet, once uncovered, appeared smaller, softer, and more round-looking. He warily picked his helmet up off the coffee table and held it in front of him. He looked at his reflection in the visor. His jaw dropped at what he saw, and he nearly dropped the high-tech helmet right on the ground.

His quills were much longer, and much less professional-looking, drooping down his back so far they were almost level with his waist. His features weren't hard and authoritative, as they had become after years of service as a Zone Cop. Rather, they were open and inviting, giving him an innocent look about him. His eyes were larger, his nose rounder, and his mouth less stern and cold.

Overall, the Zone Cop looked a lot _younger_.

He stumbled backwards, collapsing into the couch. This couldn't be happening to him. "I'm a... I'm a kid again?" he breathed shakily, staring at his immature, skinny hands. He couldn't wrap his head around it. He knew the time stream was crumbling, but this was the last thing he expected to happen because of it.

He clenched his eyes shut and tried to calm his unsteady breathing. "Okay, Zonic... this is all just a bad dream," he told himself. "All you've got to do is wake up, open your eyes, and everything'll be normal again." He took a deep breath and opened up his eyes. He looked himself over- nope, still a kid. Teenager, maybe? All that mattered was that he wasn’t himself. He repeated this process of closing his eyes, desperately hoping, and opening them again at least four more times before he resorted to pinching himself. A few rounds of that convinced him that he was, in fact, awake. He groaned, his child-like voice ringing in his head. Just what he needed: hyperactive hormones and a body that he wasn't used to being in, all while trying to save the multiverse. Just perfect.

How on Mobius did this happen? He tried to think, his mind a confused jumble. The time monsters didn’t physically hurt him like they did to Sonic. He didn’t understand. He was just fine before! Well, his stomach was bothering him since the afternoon, yes, but he strongly doubted that an amusement park chili dog caused him to  _ de-age _ overnight. This made no sense! He supposed this could be a side effect of the flow of time going out of whack, but even  _ that _ theory had holes. He wasn’t from Mobius Prime, so why was he being affected by its time stream? He had too many questions, and zero answers.

_ ‘I’m a kid. I can’t believe this. I’m actually a goddamn middle school kid again. I’m still me, but... I don’t even feel like I’m in my own body. All those years of physical training, all my limits, all my strengths and weaknesses, everything about me is totally different. I don’t know a damn thing about myself anymore. This body is too small, it’s too cramped in here! Little hands, little feet, little voice… Big quills. What was I thinking when I got this haircut? Honestly, did I used to think this looked cool?! They’re even longer than Sonic’s!’  _ Zonic ran his fingers through his quills in disbelief. His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. Was this why he had been hurting all day? He had been going through a massive reverse-growth spurt? Was that it? His body was resisting it all day… And then he just de-aged by several years all at once?

He wondered how the others would react to the sudden change. After all, it wasn't every day that you wake up to find out that one of your allies was suddenly a lot younger than he should be. He hoped that they would have the sense to treat him the same as they always had. He did _not_ want to be babied. Just because he looked like a kid didn't mean he was mentally a kid. Right?

"No. No no no no no, don't think like that,"  Zonic muttered, placing his head in both hands and looking down at his shrunken feet. "You're still you. Don't start needlessly scaring yourself."

His ears suddenly perked up. He thought he’d heard something. Were those footsteps coming from upstairs? Or was he just hearing things? He stiffened, trying not to move a muscle or make a sound. It was 2 in the morning, no one should be awake. He listened for a few moments, hearing nothing. He let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. It must have been nothing. Good, he didn't think he could deal with telling anyone about his predicament. He needed some time to accept it himself.

_Thump, thump, thump._ Nope, he wasn't hearing things. Someone was definitely awake and moving around upstairs. _'It’s… probably just one of the guys, having to go to the bathroom. They won't come down here, it'll be fine.'_ He nodded, trying to reassure himself that he would be left alone for the time being. Unfortunately, he had no such luck-- the footsteps began to descend the stairs mere seconds later. "Damn," he breathed, quickly lying back down on the couch to make it look like he was still sleeping. He thought about shutting off the lamp next to him, but knew it would give him away in an instant; surely the light could be seen from the staircase. He threw the blanket over himself, and squirmed around in it until his entire body was covered up by it; this wasn’t that hard, seeing as how the blanket was bigger on him now than it was before.

The owner of the footsteps reached the bottom of the stairs and yawned. They shuffled- whoever it was must have had slippers on or something- through the kitchen and towards the bathroom, and Zonic could faintly hear the medicine cabinet opening and its contents being bustled around. After a very long minute or two, the cabinet shut, and whoever it was who was lurking about came back to the living room. Zonic held his breath.

A sigh. "Crap, I can’t believe we’re out of pain killers, this stupid scar is getting ridiculous... Hey, Zonic, you awake?" the owner of the footsteps said. It was Sonic. Zonic didn't say anything. Maybe if he kept quiet...

"Given the distinct lack of snoring coming from under there, I'm going to assume you are," Sonic said with another yawn. Zonic cringed. How could he forget that he, and almost every other Sonic in existence for that matter, snored? Such a rookie mistake… The kind he would normally never make. He cursed under his breath. He was still _mentally_ twenty, right?

"Unless, Zonic's _not_ in there, and he just stuffed a bunch of pillows under the blanket in a very convincing hedgehog shape." Sonic chuckled. Zonic still made no move to respond to the older hedgehog- the older hedgehog! Just a few hours ago they were the exact same age. This _sucked._ Sonic exhaled through pursed lips.

"C'mon man, I can't sleep. I need someone to talk to, at least. You're awake, just say something."

"Go away," Zonic muttered, trying to get his voice to go down lower. He overshot, and his voice sounded unnaturally deep, as if he were sick.

"Z? Are you okay?" Sonic asked, taking a step closer to the couch.

"Jus- just go away," the Zone Cop said, instinctively tensing up. Sonic frowned. Something was wrong, especially if the No-Zoner didn't want to talk about it.

"Go away? Look, if something’s up, it won't help to keep it to yourself. Come on out." Sonic walked right up to the couch and grabbed the corner of the blanket. Zonic ripped the cloth out of his hands and clutched it tight.

"I'm perfectly happy in here, thank you," he said. His voice cracked on the 'thank you.' He groaned inwardly. Just his luck, he'd been catapulted back into puberty.

Sonic huffed. He could understand wanting to be left alone if he was tired, but something was wrong. Z's voice was all over the place, and the fact that he wouldn't even show his face to the speedster was definitely concerning. "Well, if you're not coming out on your own, I guess I'll just have to force you out," he sighed. He went to grab the edge of the blanket near Zonic's feet, where the Zone Cop couldn't hold on.

"No. No, no, no, no, no-!" the No-Zoner insisted as Sonic jerked the blanket off of him. Sonic could only stare at him open-mouthed. The hedgehog under the blanket was not at all what he was expecting. Zonic looked… tiny. Not as small as Sonic's younger-self, but without a doubt smaller than he was before he went to bed earlier that night. He wasn’t just smaller, though. He was _younger._ That much was easy to tell just from the terrified expression that was on his face.

"... Z? What..." He could barely get the words out of his mouth. He had a thousand questions to ask, and his brain wanted to ask them all at once. He eventually settled for just one: “What the heck happened to you?”

"See why I wanted to be left alone?" Zonic said glumly, slowly sitting upright. Now that he wasn't trying to disguise his voice, Sonic realized just how young and innocent he sounded. How scared and vulnerable he must feel. It was extremely strange, especially coming from a guy like Zonic, who was, essentially, the group's main authority figure. The young voice didn't suit him at all. Being younger in general didn’t suit him at all. Sonic tried to swallow the lump that had formed in his throat. It wouldn’t go down.

“So, I uh… I guess that anti-aging cream is really working out for you, huh?” he said, trying to crack a smile. The grin didn’t travel into his eyes, which were currently telling a very different story. He gently sat down on the couch next to the No-Zoner, trying not to notice the difference in height between them or the way Zonic’s feet dangled off the edge, not reaching the floor.

“Now’s really not the time for jokes, Sonic,” he said softly, his voice breaking. The captain looked down, not meeting Sonic’s eyes. "I-I mean, just look at me! I'm a kid for crying out loud! I'm a goddamn twenty-year-old elite transdimensional police officer in- in a  _ preteen's body!  _ This is... this is wrong, all wrong..."

"Hey, come on, dude," Sonic said, draping the blanket over his friend’s shaking shoulders. "I know what’ll cheer you up. How about some hot chocolate, huh? We don’t have the real stuff, I mean, just the mix, but I’ll whip some up and you can tell me what happened."

Zonic sheepishly glanced up at him, and the looked back down again and shrugged half-heartedly. "There's nothing to tell. I just woke up like this a few minutes ago, I don’t know what’s going on or what happened," he said. He hugged the blanket tighter around himself, and noticed Sonic’s shoulders droop as the older hedgehog looked away. _‘He doesn’t know how else he can help,’_ Zonic realized. "Um... hot chocolate sounds good though," he added. 

Sonic smiled. Hot chocolate was always his number one comfort drink-- he was hoping that this was the same for his No-Zone self. Sometimes the best cure for being scared was a steaming mug of something delicious. They both stood up, Zonic's knees wobbling slightly, and started walking to the kitchen. The kid’s legs gave out quickly though, sending him to the ground. He cursed under his breath.

“You okay? What happened?” Sonic kneeled down next to him. His voice was hushed and laced with concern. “You’re not…” He wanted to ask if Zonic was getting even younger again, but he didn’t have the heart to finish the question.

“My legs are... too different. I have no idea how much weight to put on each one… I have to learn how to goddamn walk again!” Zonic practically yelled, slamming a fist on the floor. He felt like he wanted to cry. This just kept getting worse and worse.

Sonic helped the teenager up and let him lean on him for support as the two entered the kitchen. The older one turned the lights on dim; enough for them to see without difficulty, but not bright enough to hurt their eyes. He left Zonic by the round kitchen table and went to the sink, pulling two mugs out of the cabinet directly above it. He opened the cabinet next to that one, which held the packets of cocoa. He laid everything out on the counter before turning on the small hot tap, which began to spout steaming water.

Zonic’s throat was still closed up, and his hands trembling slightly. _‘Man up, you big baby, don’t let this get to you..’_ he thought, though there was no real force or sentiment behind the words. Screw it, he was upset. Might as well man up to _that_. He breathed shakily as he climbed into one of the chairs set out around the table. “Jeez, everything’s so big…” he said, looking around. The room felt at least twice as big as it did normally, and he found himself at eye level with most of the countertops. “I know that it’s kind of a given and all, but still… I don’t like it. I don’t feel like myself.”

“You don’t _look_ like yourself,” Sonic said, turning around to look. “Too soft around the edges. You look too much like me.”

Zonic opened his mouth to argue that he _always_ looked like Sonic, but decided it wasn’t worth it. He supposed it was sort of true, though. There were some subtle differences in their appearances, and they gave off two totally different vibes. Zonic was hard, cool, calculating. All sharp angles and straight lines. He practically oozed officer. Sonic was almost the exact opposite; outgoing, laid-back, and free. Fluid, inviting, and a bit arrogant. Sometimes it felt like it was impossible that they were technically the same guy.

Meanwhile, the older hedgehog was almost done with the hot chocolate, now loading up the two beverages with mini marshmallows. He walked carefully over to the table, both steaming hot mugs in hand. He passed one of them over to his counterpart and sat in the chair across from him. "Careful, it’s hot."

"Mmm," the cop acknowledged, noting the steam floating up from the surface of the hot liquid. The scent of chocolate wafted into his nostrils, exciting his taste buds. He warily sipped the drink, barely avoiding scalding his tongue. It was almost too hot to taste, but it warmed his insides as it went down. He could feel himself beginning to loosen up and calm down almost immediately. He went for another sip. "So, you think there's any way to turn me back to normal?" he asked. "You're better with this supernatural mumbo jumbo than I am, anyway."

The Prime-Zoner scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I hate to say Chaos Emeralds, but... They are kind of my go-to fix-all, ya know? Unless defeating the Time Eater will undo this, which is totally possible, too. Do you…” He searched for the right words, not knowing what to say. “Are you gonna be okay?" he asked tentatively. Zonic looked down at the brown liquid in his mug unsurely.

"I… I don’t know. Right now, ‘okay’ feels a long way off. I need to get used to this younger body, and relearn my limitations. I don’t know a thing about myself anymore. Not to mention my hormones are probably going crazy, and I’m probably going to get babied by the others whether I like it or not, and… we don’t even know if fixing the time stream will get me back to normal." His voice faded near the end, turning into a whimper. He didn't like the idea of being stuck like this, and having to grow up all over again. He brought his knees up to his chest and gripped his mug with both hands.

"How old do you think you are right now, anyway?" Sonic asked.

"Hmm... Good question," the kid shrugged. “Um, I think I have an idea. Can you grab my helmet and gauntlets? They’re on the coffee table inside…” His eyes lingered on the spot in the living room. Sonic nodded, getting up from the table and going to fetch the gear. He swiftly picked them up and brought them over. “Okay, now put ‘em on. They… won’t really fit me now, will they?” he said, a sort of sadness tinging his voice.

Sonic hesitated, holding the helmet in both hands. He didn’t want to put the helmet on. He felt like it was Zonic’s, and Zonic’s alone, even if, technically, he and Zonic were the same person. It was almost like being told to hold his gun. Nevertheless, he slipped the helmet onto his head, his quills barely fitting inside the cramped space. The computer display in the visor flashed to life, providing him with instant information about his surrounding area, the very dimension he was in, and the No Zone. “Whoa. This thing is pretty neat,” he said under his breath. He slipped the chunky gauntlets on over his bare wrists, and information on his vitals popped up on the corner of the visor’s display. “ _ Really  _ neat,” he corrected himself.

“Alright, good,” Zonic nodded. “Now, just… uh, point one of the gauntlets at me and say ‘bioscan.’”

“Um, okay…” the speedster complied, pointing his arm at Zonic as instructed. “Bioscan,” he said. Some device in the gauntlet whirred to life, and from a small hole shot a wide beam of red light. The long, skinny beam scanned from top to bottom, focusing on Zonic. The younger hedgehog shut his eyes when the bright light passed over his face, but aside from that, the scanning process was quick and painless. When it was done, the information processed for a split second before the results of the scan came up on the visor. “Oh, and this thing’ll tell us exactly how old you are…?”

“Yeah, it should,” Z said as Sonic skimmed through the slew of information. “Of course, it might just tell you that I’m twenty anyway, but I figured it’s worth a shot.”

“Yup. Alright, let’s see… Oh,” the speedster said, sounding disappointed. He removed the helmet and gauntlets and placed them aside on the kitchen table. Zonic looked at him expectantly, and he looked back down at his hot chocolate sitting in front of him. The marshmallows had by now melted all into one giant, gooey lump. “You’re about thirteen years old,” he said finally.

"Yeah, that… that sounds about right. Right around thirteen… So I’m a little older than your younger self, huh?"

“Yeah. I mean, we did have that growth spurt right around… your age… It makes sense that you’re almost the same age as him but you’re a little taller, you know?”

“Right…” Zonic drifted off into thought for a few seconds. "I wonder if something like this is happening to anyone else? Maybe there are people all over the multiverse right now, in all different Zones, suddenly aging or de-aging like this... Sonic, what if I'm not  _ done _ getting younger? What if I regress back into an infant?  Wh-what if I... I keep on getting younger and younger until there's nothing left of me? I mean, I've already regressed back by, what, seven years? And it's only been a couple of hours! Oh Chaos, what if--"

"Hey, hey! Z. Calm down, okay?” Sonic said calmly, trying to get his friend to relax. “You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you keep thinking things like that. Just breathe." Seeing the No-Zoner freak out like this was a first. He was usually calm and collected about everything, skilled at hiding his emotions. The mask he normally wore had cracked.

"Y-yeah... Yeah, you're right," Zonic stammered, closing his eyes and setting down his cocoa. He wrapped his arms around his knees. "But... you don't think I'm going to keep getting younger, do you?" he asked quietly.

"I don't know." Sonic admitted. "I know that if you DO keep de-aging, that I'm gonna be right here for you if you need me. And I know that if anyone can handle something like this, it's you. And I'm not just saying that- out of everyone on this team, you're probably the most qualified to deal with this sort of stuff."

"Are you kidding?" Zonic scoffed. "I have the least experience with time travel and random magical transformations out of all of us. Not to mention the fact that I was the least teenagery teenager ever. I became a Zone Cop when I was pretty young, and I had to grow up fast after that."

"Dude, I don’t act like I’m twenty. Little-me doesn’t act like he’s twelve! Don't worry about your age, just worry about you." Sonic took a swig of hot chocolate, drinking about half of what was left in one gulp. Zonic chuckled.

"Wow, could you be any more of a cheeseball?" he asked, raising an eyeridge. He smiled slightly, finally loosening up.

"Hey, my speeches may be cheesy, but they work."

"Oh yeah, just like- what was it that one time, the 'superpower of teamwork?'"

"Wh- hey! You weren't even there for that!" Sonic laughed loudly.

"Doesn't mean I didn't see it! Monitors, watching everything, kind of my job? Remember? I got that whole thing burned onto a DVD for my viewing pleasure."

"Yeah, well, let's see you come up with an inspiring speech off the top of your head right before you go battle one of your worst enemies!" Sonic grinned.

"Hey!" a harsh whisper came from the loft upstairs. It was Scourge. "Will you two shut up?! Some of us are trying to experience this new phenomenon called SLEEP. Maybe you should try it!"

"Aw, did we interwupt baby’s beauty sweep?" Sonic called back upstairs with a goofy smile on his face. Scourge muttered something- probably a string of curses, given how he was grumbling-- before tromping off back to bed. Sonic half-shrugged. "S'pose we'd ought to quiet down then," he said, turning to Zonic. The Zone Cop didn't look at him, however. He was staring up at the ceiling.

"Man... Scourge is gonna have a field day with this. His parole officer is suddenly thirteen again... Honestly, I'm barely a year older than your past-self. I'm closer in age to _him_ than I am to _you_. I'm practically the same age as Tails...!"

"Just don't start freaking yourself out about this," Sonic reminded him. "You'll be fine if you stay chill about this whole mess."

"I know, I just-- I'm still trying to wrap my head around this, y’know? Stuff like this doesn't happen every day." He brought his mug of cocoa up to his lips, but stopped before he took a sip. The ceramic mug felt so big in his small hands. Everything’s proportions seemed off, like he was in some sort of funhouse or kiddie playground. It reminded him of Zector’s favorite coffee mug, which was way too big for himself or Zespio to drink out of. "Gods, what am I going to tell the others... 'Hey Tails! Guess who's your age now?' Or better yet, 'Hey Zector and Zespio, now you have to take orders from a kid who should be in middle school right about now!' Yeah, this should be fun."

"Hey, I got your back. Don't sweat it, dude," Sonic said, finishing off his hot chocolate. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "Well, if you're sure you’re going to be okay, I'm gonna run a quick check on the computer downstairs, see if it's found any more Emeralds yet. You should probably go to bed. You... I mean, you're a kid now, after all. You need your sleep," he said modestly.

Zonic gently sipped his cocoa and sighed. "You're probably right... Though if I manage to get any sleep tonight, it'll be a miracle." He turned his hand over and looked at it. It wasn’t just small. It was softer, newer, missing so many of the calluses and scars that had once dotted its landscape. This hand, which had once been his own, just… wasn’t him anymore. He wondered how anyone could sleep after just waking up in a body seven years younger than what they were used to.

Sonic stood up and collected his own empty mug. "Well, you should at least _try_ and get some shut eye. After Tails and lil' Me get back from Metal Harbor, we need to hurry up and find the sixth and seventh Emeralds. I don't think I need to tell you that we're running out of time?" He flashed a hopeful half-grin. His optimistic expression didn't last long though. As if on cue, he felt intense heat suddenly burst through his torso, and he didn't think it was the hot chocolate. The mug dropped from his hand, the ceramic shattering upon impact with the floor. His lungs jerked, causing him to take a sharp breath. He doubled over, trying to contain the fire inside. His scar had been at a dull ache all night, but why did it suddenly feel like something was trying to tear his chest in half?

Zonic jumped out of his chair with a start. What was happening? He knew that his Prime-self had sustained some injuries in the past few days, but this was looking more like a full-blown heart attack than a couple of bruised ribs. He hurried to the older hedgehog's side and placed his arm around him, keeping him from collapsing entirely. He almost had to pull away- Sonic's body was painfully hot. A jagged purple glow seemed to be emanating from his chest, shining through the bandages that he still wore. And was it... getting bigger?

Sonic clenched his eyes shut and clenched his teeth together to keep from yelling out in pain. Why was his scar acting up all of a sudden? Just what exactly WAS this injury, anyway? He squeezed his fists until his knuckles were white. It felt like his scar was cutting into him, like someone had taken a hot blade to the very edge of the gash and was widening it while simultaneously taking a hammer to his ribcage. The searing feeling snaked steadily up his chest, trailing up one side of his neck, even intruding into his muzzle a bit, and finally going over his lips and stopping an inch above the corner of his mouth.

If Zonic hadn't been there supporting his weight, the hero of Mobius would have fallen over without question. His body was trembling, his knees buckled, and he felt as if every drop of energy had been sucked from his body. The No-Zoner eased him back into his chair just as the burning pain started to ease a little bit. Sonic relaxed his tight jaw and fists, but only slightly.

“Okay,” Zonic breathed, clearly frazzled. “What the hell was that?” Sonic groaned in response, still curled up over his chest. The Zone Cop frowned, biting his lip. Sonic’s scar had grown-- instead of being merely confined to his chest, it now reached into his muzzle, and in the opposite direction, stretched a little bit down his right thigh. “What the hell..."

"This scar..." Sonic said through his teeth. "It grows. It’s been happening steadily, and it only really hurts when I exert myself or… or use Chaos Control…” he replied, panting.

"You mean this has happened before? Thanks for telling me.”

"It never came up!" Sonic argued. "A lot has been going on, cut me some slack," he breathed heavily.

“You’re okay, though? You’re not gonna, like, die right now or something?”

“I don’t think so.”

The teenager shook his head and sighed. "We're just a couple of wrecks, huh?" He crouched down and started picking up pieces of the broken mug off the floor.

"Got that right..." the older hedgehog’s lids dropped, and he rubbed his eyes. ”Great, NOW I'm tired..."

"Go to sleep then. I'll finish cleaning up here, don't worry about it," Zonic shrugged. He didn’t mind cleaning up the kitchen alone; he needed time to himself to think.

"Alright, if you insist," Sonic said, pushing himself to his feet. He limped gently towards the living room, favoring his left leg- the leg his scar wasn't ripping into. He stopped at the door, and leaned against the doorframe. "You're gonna be fine, Z. I promise." He smiled tiredly before stumbling into the living room and slumping back up the stairs, disappearing from view. Zonic slowly continued picking up all the big chunks of ceramic off the floor, deciding to vacuum up the rest in the morning.

_ ‘I still can’t believe that this is all really happening,’ _ he thought.  _ ‘And it’s not just that I’m thirteen. Sonic and his weird magic scar thing… What else isn’t he telling us? Having an injury that glows in the dark is pretty important information in my book. And Scourge… Something was DEFINITELY bothering him when we were in Twinkle Park, with all those mirrors. What the heck was that all about?’ _ He threw the ceramic shards into the trash and grimaced. He didn’t like being left out of the loop like this. He knew from experience that teams with secrets were not successful. He was starting to wonder if this entire fiasco was just a dream. Maybe he would wake up in the morning with his body back to normal, Scourge still in prison, and with Mobius Prime completely stable.

Having tidied up the kitchen floor to the best of his ability, Zonic placed the remaining mug in the sink (someone else could clean it up later, he really didn’t care at the moment), turned out the light, and went back into the living room. He slumped back onto the couch, exhausted and miserable.  _ ‘I’m thirteen years old.’ _ The thought raced through his head on repeat as he laid down and dragged the blanket over on top of him.  _ ‘This isn’t a bad dream. This isn’t something that can be undone at the drop of a hat. I’m thirteen years old, and I’m gonna be stuck this way for a while.’ _ It wasn’t easy or fun to think about. He had already been doubting his abilities in terms of timeline-saving, but now… He had no idea what was going to happen now. Everything was up in the air. Zonic didn’t know what he was going to do, or how the others were going to react.

He was unable to sleep, his mind was running through every possible way in which his friends would respond to his sudden drop in age. And he found himself hoping that Sonic was right, that everything would be okay. Somehow, though, that idea seemed a little too good to be true.

As much as he wanted to stay awake, he felt himself starting to go under. Sleep meant the morning would come faster, too fast, and that meant he would have to confront Scourge and Lil’ T. It also meant that he might start getting younger again… but he just couldn’t keep his eyes open. Sonic had made a good point before-- he was young, and he needed his sleep. He was starting to drift into slumber, and there wasn’t much he could do to stop it. Eventually, he gave in, and allowed himself to fall into a dreamless sleep.


	18. Lakes and Playdates

The next morning was not an easy one for everyone at the workshop. The good news was that Scourge hadn’t run off in the middle of the night, and better yet, the Chaos Emerald he had taken up to bed with him had worked wonders on his concussion. In what seemed like no time, he was back to his normal, crabby self. He was a tad less hostile than usual, though; he was in a “good” mood now that his headache had gone away. As an added bonus, the snow seemed to have finally stopped, as the Mystic Ruins got catapulted into a sudden spring. But unfortunately, that was where the good news ended.

The older Tails and younger Sonic still hadn’t returned from Metal Harbor, which was a cause for concern. The Emerald radar in the basement hadn’t found either of the remaining two Emeralds, and they were starting to run out of time. Sonic’s scar was larger than ever before, and now virtually impossible to cover up with bandages. He reluctantly showed it to Scourge and Lil’ T when they both woke up, and needless to say, neither were thrilled by it. The fox kit found it extremely unsettling, both in its increasing size and the negative vibes that seemed to be coming off it. Scourge, at face value at least, seemed unimpressed and uninterested, stating that it was merely a cheap knock-off of his own scars, and that Sonic should stop “copying him and cramping his style.”

But the worst news of the morning had to be what happened to Zonic. Everyone was down in the living room when the sleeping hedgehog on the couch began to stir. He was about to pull the blankets off from on top of himself when he heard the others’ voices in the room.

“Hey, looks like he’s waking up,” Tails observed. Scourge scoffed.

“‘Bout time. I always pegged the guy for more of the drill sergeant type, y’know? Wake up at the crack of dawn, drop and give me fifty pushups kind of guy.”

The small fox giggled at that, while Zonic remained hidden under the cover of the blanket.  _ ‘Crap, _ ’ he thought, a weight forming in his chest.  _ ‘Why does everyone have to be in the living room right now? I don’t want them to see me like this!’  _ He was  _ not _ looking forward to this, not one bit. He knew that he should just get it over with, but he was having a hard time building up the courage to move just a muscle.

“Come on guys,” Sonic said, sounding unamused. “Lay off, the dude had a rough night.”

“He seemed okay enough to have a conversation with you on full volume,” the green hedgehog grumbled, clearly still annoyed about having been woken up the night prior by the noises in the kitchen. “He couldn’t have been feeling THAT bad,” 

Zonic gritted his teeth angrily. Something in Scourge's tone pissed him off, like he was insinuating that the green hedgehog had been the one to have a rougher night. If he was able to call what happened to Zonic ‘not that bad...’

"Not that bad?" the No-Zoner grunted, feeling anger rise up inside of him. He sat up and pulled the blanket shielding him off. "Yeah, does this look not that bad to you?!" he demanded, glaring daggers at Scourge. Everyone went silent and wide-eyed at seeing his younger face and hearing his higher voice; even Sonic, who was with him after he discovered that he was a teenager once more, still wasn't used to it. Seeing Zonic like that in the daytime made it seem far more real.

The room was dead silent for almost a minute, no one moving an inch. "Alright," Scourge breathed, breaking the quiet, "I'll give you that one. Rough night. What the hell happened? Why're you a shrimp?!"

The thirteen-year-old hedgehog crossed his legs so he was sitting pretzel style, and slouched down so he sort of curled in on himself. He didn't like being stared at, like he was some sort of zoo animal or freaky lab experiment. Maybe bursting out with impulsive rage wasn't the best idea. "I wish I knew," he said quietly, his very un-Zonic voice seeming to have an even larger impact now. "I just woke up like this in the middle of the night. I don't know why." His shoulders drooped, and his narrowed eyes failed to meet any of the others'. Today was definitely one of those days where he should have just stayed in bed.

"Well, ain't that just dandy. My parole officer's some scrawny little kid," Scourge said. A smile slowly broke onto his face as he realized this. "What are you going to do to me now if I don't follow your precious rules? Threaten to call mommy on me? Start crying until I play nice? Ahahaha!" he laughed, doubling over. Zonic fumed, his face turning red.

"Sh-shut up!" he yelled, the higher pitch of his voice sending the older hedgehog into a fit of hysterics.

"Knock it off, Scourge," Sonic frowned. "It's not funny." He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on Scourge, in case his anti-self tried anything while Zonic was like this.

"Are you kidding? This is great! The guy who's supposed to be making sure I don't get into trouble is a  _ kid! _ I used to steal lunch money from wimps like him!" He began howling again, only serving to make Zonic more and more miserable by the second. The cop decided he liked Scourge better when he had a concussion.

Tails, from his perch on Sonic's lap, glanced between the green hedgehog and the smaller blue one, whose face was now a bright red. The young fox hopped down to the ground and walked across the room to the couch, where he climbed up next to Zonic. Standing next to the teenager, they were almost the same height.

"Wow," the child said, "you  _ are _ real little now."

"Not helping." Zonic crossed his arms and turned his head away from the fox, glaring at Scourge instead.

"Bein' little's not so bad, though," Lil' T smiled. "I mean, me an' Sonic are both little, and we've saved the world a bunch of times! There's still lots of stuff you can do if you're little. Scourge is just bein' mean." He patted the sulky teen on the back, trying his best to be comforting.

"No, Scourge is being right," Zonic admitted with a scowl. This actually got the green hog in question to stop laughing, at least for a second. "All I was able to do normally was fire a gun," the cop continued, "and now all that muscle memory is gone. What can I do now that's useful?"

"I don't know," Sonic shrugged simply. “I don’t know what you were capable of when you were thirteen. But you did get that Chaos Emerald yesterday, and that’s nothing to laugh at,” he smiled.

Zonic blinked. “Yeah… Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he said with a bit more confidence. Not only did he get the Emerald, but he beat Scourge to it. He didn’t even have any super speed or Chaos powers at his disposal. Even if he was physically younger, he was still capable.

Scourge stopped laughing entirely and scoffed instead. “Are you kidding me?” he said, rolling his eyes. “It was a fluke, you got lucky. If I hadn’t gotten stuck in that damn mirror maze…”

“Hey, you’re the one who decided to make a bet out of it,” Zonic smirked. At least he could still rub this in the green one’s face. Scourge groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead. He’d completely forgotten that he’d issued the challenge to race to the Emerald, and then  _ lost _ . Embarassing. And if that wasn’t humiliating enough, the terms of the bet itself…

“A bet?” Sonic cracked a grin, leaning forward in his seat. This was getting interesting. “What kind of bet?”

“The kind that Scourge lost. Now, he gets to spend the day with this lil' guy here," Zonic said, wrapping an arm around Tails’ shoulders. "A playdate."

"But he was just bein’ mean! I don’t wanna play with him,” the fox pouted and crossed his thin arms across his chest.

"He just likes giving me a hard time, he won’t be mean to you,” Zonic said, glaring sideways at Scourge. “As you can clearly see, the guy doesn’t know how to have fun. I need you to show him a thing or two. Can you do that for me?"

Lil’ T screwed up his features to make a show of thinking hard about this decision. After a few seconds of tapping his finger to his chin, he asked, “What’s in it for me?” Both the blue hedgehogs got a laugh out of that, while Scourge wondered how he got himself into this mess.

“I’ll throw in some mint candies for you,” Zonic offered.

“Sold,” the kid nodded in satisfaction. “... after breakfast, though. I’m hungry.”

Scourge huffed with relief. If he played this right and dragged out breakfast, he could easily get an hour of peace and quiet before he was forced into babysitting. He had a feeling he was going to need a big cup of coffee if he wanted to get through the day in one piece. Part of him wondered if he should just ask to go back to Zone Jail. That abuse, he was used to. This was just going to be degrading.

Sonic, on the other hand, was rather enjoying seeing his evil twin’s look of sheer dread. Now Lil’ T would be kept busy until the older Tails and the younger Sonic got back from their Emerald hunt, and everyone could get a good laugh out of it. And besides, Scourge needed  _ someone _ to keep him in line, and if that someone could be a little kid, well then that would kill two birds with one stone.

_ Grrrwwlll. _ Zonic’s stomach suddenly emitted an ungodly sound which caught the attention of everyone in the room. “So I think there’s a small chance,” he said as the gurgling stopped, “that I might be a  _ tiny _ bit hungry as well.”

Scourge laughed. “Yeah, no shit! I heard that from over here,” he said. Tails, shocked, flew over and kicked him in the shin. The hedgehog yelped. “Yow! What was that for?!”

“You said a bad word! Don’t do that!” the kid shouted, sticking his lower lip out. “Looks like I gotta teach you how to have fun the right way, you’re terrible.”

“You got that right,” the green hog said sourly, sticking his tongue out at the child.

“Play nice, you two,” Sonic said, standing up and lifting lil’ T up off the floor. “C’mon mister, let’s get some food into ya.” He set the fox down on top of his shoulders and gave the kid a ride to the kitchen, Zonic following close behind. Scourge growled. Today wasn’t going to be a good day.

ooo

The terms of the bet were discussed at length after breakfast, once Lil' T had left the room to explore the newly-thawed Mystic Ruins. After a short conversation concerning safety, Sonic and Zonic quickly agreed that Scourge should wear the inhibitor collar while he had his 'playdate' with Tails, just in case.

_ "What!?" _ the green one yelped. "Are you guys freakin' serious? No way in hell am I puttin' that thing back on!"

“We could always come up with another punishment for you,” Sonic shrugged. “We could make you wax your leg. Maybe drink a blenderized happy meal or something?”

"Considering both of those sound potentially deadly, I think I’ll pass,” Scourge said, raising an eyeridge. “So why do I gotta wear the damn collar, anyway? If you guys don't trust me, why the hell did you ask me to tag along in the first place?"

"It's not like we had any other options!" Sonic shouted, pounding his fist on the table. The other two jumped, stunned into silence. The blue blur took a shaky breath and ran his fingers through his quills. "Sorry. Just wear the stupid collar, will you? It's not gonna kill you."

"Alright, sure. Jeez. I was just gonna ask the kid if he wanted to play video games or somethin'," Scourge said, standing up. Zonic unhooked the collar from his belt and stiffly tossed it to him. He caught it and gulped, eyeing the golden circlet. He quickly snapped it onto his neck before he could think about what he was doing. It closed around his throat with a  _ click _ , and he gasped sharply as if he had just had the wind knocked out of him.  _ Chaos _ he hated that thing. Why was he agreeing to do this again? He uncomfortably breathed in through his nose and out through his mouth. Even taking a deep breath was harder with the collar on; it felt like he was somewhere high up, or like the air was incredibly humid and didn’t want to enter his lungs. “Happy?” he wheezed, clearing his throat. Sonic said nothing, he just got up and walked grumpily out of the room. Scourge cocked an eyeridge. “What’s his deal?” he asked the teenager sitting across from him.

“Dunno,” Zonic half-shrugged. Sonic seemed to be totally on-board with the idea at first, but he just sort of snapped. Something was definitely bugging him. What was going on? “Maybe he’s pissed that he needs our help at all. He feels like he should be able to handle this on his own.”

“Oh no, we bruised his precious ego,” Scourge rolled his eyes. “If he seriously thinks he can save all of time by himself, he’s got another thing coming. Dude needs to take a load off and relax while we can. There’s not much we can do right now except wait for Tails and Sonic Jr. to come back, anyway.”

“Maybe that’s why Sonic’s in such a sour mood,” Zonic glanced at the direction Mobius’ hero walked off in. He’d gone through the living room and presumably up the stairs to his room. “We haven’t heard anything from the others.”

“Well, that solves that mystery,” the green hedgehog yawned, cracking his back. He peered at the fox kit playing in the field outside. He was chasing a butterfly, and seemed to be having a great time.

“He’s waaii-ting,” Zonic sang, enjoying every second of grating on Scourge’s nerves. The Moebian growled, grating his sharp teeth. He was  _ not _ looking forward to this. The King of Moebius spending time with a happy-go-lucky little kid? It sounded like a bad joke. But he wasn’t going to let Zonic enjoy himself  _ too _ much with this.

Scourge huffed, walking out the back door and into the warm sunshine.  _ ‘I can’t believe I’m about to do this.’ _ He jumped off the porch and started walking through the tall grass covering the plateau.  _ ‘Why the fuck am I doing this.’ _ He looked around. “Hey kid,” he said as he spied the small fox. 

The child poked his head up out of the grass a few meters away. His expression soured as he saw who it was. “Oh, it’s you,” he said with a pout. Apparently Tails was still mad at him because he was laughing at Zonic earlier. Great.

“Get off my case, I told Officer Pipsqueak I was sorry,” the hedgehog crossed his arms. It was a lie, but Zonic didn’t seem to be mad at him anymore either way, so it really didn’t matter. Tails’ face immediately lit up.

“You did? Good!” he exclaimed, much more like his usual, chipper self. “What’s up?”

“Well,” Scourge scratched the inside of his ear, sounding completely bored. “Chrome Dome thinks it’s time for us to…  _ hang out.” _ He forced those last two words out of his throat, and they left a bad taste in his mouth. Ugh.

“Really?” Lil’ T said excitedly, his eyes shining bright. The hedgehog groaned, his face resting in his palm.

“Yeah, really.”

“Awright, cool!” the kid cheered, jumping up and wrapping his arms around Scourge’s torso.

“Okay, first rule of Playtime with Scourge,” the hog grunted, feeling a vein in his forehead starting to bulge.  _ “Personal. Space. Learn it.” _ The fox quickly let go and took a step back, though his smile didn’t diminish.

“Question,” Tails said.

“Yes?”

“Does that rule apply to playing tag?”

Scourge blinked. “Um, I guess not--”

“Good! You’re it!” Tails laughed, slapping Scourge playfully on the arm before he ran off. He took off, spinning his twin namesakes behind him to boost his speed and vanishing within the overgrown grass.

Scourge smirked, ready for an excuse to run and chase someone, before he remembered the collar locked around his neck. “Oh, dammit,” he growled under his breath. “Kid, wait up, will ya?!” He started running after Lil’ T, extremely self-conscious of how slow he was. He felt like Zonic; grumpy and slow as molasses. This was going to be a long playdate.

ooo

Zonic looked up at the door in front of him. He was on the second floor of the workshop, outside of Sonic’s bedroom, where the older blue hedgehog had retreated not too long ago. He’d been acting weird that morning, and with Scourge being kept busy with Lil’ T, the No-Zoner decided to find out why. “Hey, Sonic, you in there?” he said, rapping on the wood door with his knuckles.

The door swung open without much hesitation. “What’s up?” Sonic poked his head out the door, looking completely fine.

Zonic decided not to beat around the bush. “Are you okay?” he asked, not entirely sure how the speedster would answer. He had always heard that Sonic Prime had been one to bottle everything up and not discuss to any negative feelings, so he wasn’t expecting the guy to say much.

Surprisingly, Sonic blinked and shifted uncomfortably on his feet. “... Depends on what version of ‘okay’ we’re using,” he said, scratching the back of his head. He nodded for Zonic to come in, and sat down on the foot of his bed.

“The kind of okay where you’re not suddenly snapping at people,” the Zone Cop said, eyeing him carefully. “… Look, if you’re worried about the other Sonic and Tails, I’m sure they’re just fine. Just because they’re young doesn’t mean they’re not capable.”

“I know! I know. But it’s been a whole day. It should  _ not _ be taking them this long.”

“Do you want to go look for them?”

“And leave Scourge without proper adult supervision? Even with the inhibitor collar on, I don’t know if I trust him enough to leave him alone in my house. No, I think I’ll just wait it out for now. You’re probably right, they’re totally fine. I just get worried, what with the flow of time breaking and whatnot.” Sonic exhaled heavily and laid back on his bed, his legs dangling off the side. “Man, I wish I could just go on a run to relax a little bit. But running for too long actually  _ hurts _ now. For some reason… my body’s having a hard time taking it.” He grimaced and gently kicked his legs back and forth. “I mean, I know you’re not fast and all, so I don’t know if you’ll really get it, but… running just feels good. It’s who I am, and I feel like I’m losing it, almost.”

“Trust me,” Zonic said, hopping up to take a seat on the bed next to him, “I know how you feel.”

“What?” Sonic sat up a little bit, propping himself up on his elbows. “What do you mean?”

Zonic crossed his legs at the ankles and looked down at the floor. “Promise you won’t make a huge fuss about it,” he said after some thought.

“Do I ever?” Sonic smirked. “Okay, promise.”

“Okay.” The smaller hedgehog took a deep breath. He followed Scourge’s lead from earlier with the inhibitor collar, and just decided to get this over with as fast as possible. “When I was thirteen, I lost my speed.”

“Wait, so you mean… you were fast before? You could run?!” Sonic gasped. He couldn’t believe it.

Zonic scratched behind his ear uncomfortably. “Yeah, that’s what losing something means. For reasons that should be obvious to you, this isn’t really a topic I enjoy discussing all that much, y’know?” He coughed. “But I know how good it feels to run, and how shitty it feels when you can’t.”

“I… I’m sorry, dude. I didn’t know,” the older blue said sheepishly. “That… wow, that must’ve really been rough. I never even thought about losing my speed permanently... Sorry.” He really didn’t know what else he could say. Zonic didn’t want to talk about it, and Sonic didn’t even want to think about it. Losing his speed for good was something that happened only in his nightmares, but the No-Zoner had experienced it first hand. He couldn’t imagine what it must’ve been like, to lose something that was such a big part of who he was. Zonic’s serious and more grumpy disposition definitely made a lot more sense now. “How did that even happen? I mean, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“It was Doctor Nega,” Zonic said simply. “You know, the guy who’s been trying to take over the No Zone since forever. Don’t worry, I didn’t lose it because I hurt myself, and it didn’t happen naturally. A version of you losing his speed is insanely rare, you have nothing to worry about.”

Sonic sighed in relief. “Good to know,” he muttered to himself. He sat upright and crossed his legs pretzel-style on the bed. “Wait, so you could still run when you were thirteen?”

“L-look, I had my speed back then, sure, but I was thirteen when I lost it, too. There’s no way to know for sure if I can really run or not unless I go for a run, y’know? And my hopes aren’t particularly high,” he said glumly. “I was barely thirteen when I lost it, only a few months had passed since my birthday. The chances of me being the right age--”

“But it’s still worth a shot!” Sonic said, shooting up. “Dude, if there’s a chance you can  _ run _ , you should take it! Why haven’t you tried yet?”

“I don’t want to talk about it, okay?! It’s my business!” Z said, jumping to his feet and stumbling for a second on his pants, which were way too long on him. He turned away from Sonic and grimaced. He knew that if he just  _ tried  _ running, he’d know right away if he could or not. He wanted so badly to be able to run again, to feel the wind whipping through his quills and the rhythm of his feet on the ground. He wanted to be able to do something, to be useful. But if he was unable to run… To be so close and just miss it… He didn’t know if he would be able to take that on top of everything else that had happened so far. He’d been through plenty of ordeals for one day, he didn’t need to add that on top of it all.

_ ‘If this body isn’t young enough for me to still have my speed… I’ll be completely useless. I’ll be useless all over again,’ _ he thought grimly.  _ ‘Even past-Tails is more helpful in the field than I am if I can’t run.’ _ His quills drooped, and his muscles in his gut stiffened. He felt nauseous. All he had to do was take a few steps, run for a split second to see if he could feel it in his legs. A few seconds could lead to either blissful excitement or bitter defeat. He wanted to find out so badly, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. Like his whole body was paralyzed.

“You know,” Sonic started, grabbing the teen’s attention, “it’s okay if you’re scared. You don’t want to be let down. That’s fine.” Zonic clenched his fists and looked to the floor, but didn’t respond. “The problem is, if you never try, you’re just automatically doomed to never run again. However low your chances are of being able to run, by not trying, you lower it to 0%. I think you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.”

The No-Zoner looked down at his feet. As always, his Prime Zone counterpart seemed to have a point. He supposed he couldn’t give up before he ever started trying, could he? He wiggled his toes, noticing that his small feet were uncovered and unprotected. “Well, I’m not going to be running very far with no shoes on,” he said, turning back to face Sonic. “What am I supposed to do? My boots are several sizes too big, y’know. And I don’t suppose you’d happen to have a pair of size 5’s just lying around,” the Zone Cop said, his hands on his hips.

Sonic sighed. “Yeah, you’re right,” he said. He smiled. “I do have a pair of size 6’s though. Don’t move!” He shot up from his bed and zipped to the closet, which he began frantically rummaging through. Zonic, dumbfounded, watched him go through his things and toss aside old jackets and various pairs of shoes. The Zone Cop found himself wondering if the older hog was serious, and if he was, why the heck he still had shoes that were that small.

He didn't have time to wonder for long, though, because Sonic quickly emerged from his closet, pair of sneakers in hand. The shoes he held weren't gross or ratty-looking by any means; in fact, they looked like they were well cared for, even though they were obviously too small for their owner's feet. They were a shiny red, with a futuristic design, skinny white straps going across them, green lights in the heels, and flashy metallic arches.

"... SOAP shoes?" Zonic asked skeptically, taking the sneakers from Sonic and looking them over. "Jeez, talk about old school. I can't believe you actually bought into this stupid fad..." 

"Says the cop who wears a Christmas-colored uniform," the Prime-Zoner smirked. "And besides, they worked! They make grinding rails a breeze."

"You're such a dork," Zonic laughed as he slipped the shoes onto his feet. They didn't fit him perfectly, but it was a close a fit as he was going to get on such short notice. He did the straps up extra tight to compensate. They were well broken in, and pretty comfortable. He shifted his weight from foot to foot to get a feel for the shoes. "Not bad," he admitted.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Sonic slapped him on the back. "Come on, let's get going. I'm coming with you, there's no way I'm gonna miss your first run in seven years!"

The two left Sonic’s room and went downstairs (Sonic slid down the bannister, always one for flair), opened the front door, and stepped outside. Miraculously, the weather in Mystic Ruins was perfect for running. The Ice Age was out, and springtime was in. There was fresh green grass all over the place, most of which needed a trim. Wildflowers dotted the landscape, and a gentle breeze rolled in from the ocean, bathing everything in a relaxing, salty smell.

"Boy, did we luck out with the weather," Zonic said, stepping outside and walking down the couple of front steps.

Sonic laughed with relief. "I'll say! It's a beautiful day. Great running weather! Hey, maybe it's a sign."

Zonic rolled his eyes. "Are we going to try this or not?"

The older one held his hands out, telling him to lead the way. The teenager gulped. He could feel his heart starting to beat faster. He couldn’t wait, the idea of being able to run again tantalizing. The feel of the wind blowing through his fur and whipping his quills around. The pounding sensation of his feet on the ground and his heart in his chest. The rush of pure adrenaline going through his veins. The feeling of knowing that not even sound was as fast as he was. It was an incredible feeling, one that he had sorely missed.

But he was also worried that he was just a bit too old, and that he would have already lost his speed at this point in his life. Being a kid again was his only shot at being able to run again, and he was terrified at losing that opportunity. He took a deep breath. Well, there was only one way to find out.

He took off running, starting off at an average speed. He accelerated slowly, not used to traveling much faster than that. He found that going faster came easily, and he sped up, grinning. The rhythm of his feet pounding on the grass was familiar and comforting, like an old friend. He sped up further still, the world blurring past him. The air rushed past his face, cascading over his aerodynamic quills. He was doing it. He was actually doing it. He was _running._ Not the pathetic excuse for a run he’d be doing for so long, not the miserably slow run that would let criminals get away from him. Not the embarrassing so-called run that forced him to use a motorcycle or hovercar to reach any sort of real speed. This was an actual, legitimate, blood-pumping, bliss-inducing _run_.

_“Wooooohooooo!!”_ he cheered, blasting through the ruins at speeds he forgot he could hit. Sonic quickly caught up to him, even with his chest hurting like it was. The Prime-Zoner couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t very often that Zonic showed any signs of being happy, but this was certainly an exception. After all, he was doing what he was born to do, what _all_ blue hedgehogs across the multiverse were born to do. The Zone Cop didn’t care anymore that he had woken up that morning and discovered that he was suddenly one of the youngest people in the group. He didn’t care. Right now, he was happier than he had been in years. He wasn’t just happy, he was ecstatic. He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed this. He had allowed himself to forget what it was like to just leave life’s problems behind and run. He could explore, travel around the globe with nothing but his feet. The amount of freedom he had suddenly found himself with was unbelievable. The possibilities were endless.

Sonic suddenly broke off, skidding to a halt while Zonic kept on going. The teen glanced back at him, wondering why he stopped. Sonic seemed to be trying to get his attention, but he couldn’t hear what he was yelling. By the time he turned his head back around to face the front, it was too late. He had unknowingly ran off the side of a cliff, and was now careening towards the surface of a small lake. “Oh, shi-“

_Splash!_ The sudden feeling of cold water on his skin stung, and water was already rushing into his mouth and nose. The impact with the surface of the lake had spun the hedgehog around and made him dizzy, and he couldn’t make out which way was up. He closed his eyes to try and stop the world from spinning around him and kept still, trying not to spend any energy. He could hold his breath longer if he didn’t move much. _‘Focus, Zonic. Just find the surface, then you can get outta this lake!’_ he thought. He opened his eyes and expelled a short burst of air from his nose, letting the bubbles cascade up to the surface. _‘Bingo.’_

Meanwhile, on dry land, Sonic hopped down the cliff and rushed to the water’s edge. “Zonic!” he shouted, his breathing heavy-- almost wheezing. He hated being injured like this. ”Zonic, can you hear me?... Aw jeez, what am I supposed to do? I’m no lifeguard!” he gasped. He didn’t even want to be anywhere near the lake, forget about diving in and swimming in it. He could see air bubbling up from under the surface, but the No-Zoner was nowhere to be found. He immediately feared the worst.

Just then, Zonic exploded through the lake’s surface, coughing and spitting out water that had found its way into his respiratory system. He forced fresh air into his lungs, taking deep breaths in between his coughs.

“There you are!” Sonic exclaimed from the shore. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Since when can you swim?!”

“Since I was a kid!” the teenager yelled back before he began swimming his way back to shore. It wasn’t a long way, so he was soon able to stand up in the shallow water. “I wouldn’t have anything more substantial than a desk job if I couldn’t swim, you know,” he smiled.

“Well, you are just full of surprises today, aren’t you?”

“The surprise dip is something I could have done without.”

“I tried to warn you!”

“Warn louder next time!” Zonic laughed, splashing water at his double. He crawled out of the lake, water dripping off him. His clothes, sopping wet, looked ridiculously baggy hanging from his small frame. His long quills were weighed down with water, which he did his best to wring out. The sneakers that Sonic had loaned him squished as he walked away from the body of water. “At least it’s warm out so I can dry off,” he said. He pulled his t-shirt off, yanking the sopping wet cloth over his head.

All of a sudden, he felt something jerk him to the side. He stumbled sideways, but didn’t fall. “What was that?” he muttered. He jerked again. It felt like gravity was starting to pull from the side rather than from below.

Zonic glanced at the silver band around his wrist. It was dented in places, and sparking. _‘Uh-oh.’_

All at once, his stabilizer gave out, and he fell to the cliff face a few feet away. He collided with the rock with a thud. “Ugh… Dammit,” he groaned. He yanked the metal bracelet off his wrist and inspected it. The electronics inside were fizzling dangerously. He huffed. So much for being able to run again. It was hard enough just to walk sideways sometimes.

"What the- what happened?" Sonic asked as Zonic stood up, feet planted firmly on the cliff wall. He was back to standing sideways.

"Spatial Stabilizers aren't exactly waterproof," he grunted. "That, coupled with the force of the impact when I hit the lake must have caused it to bust."

"At least it had the courtesy to wait until you were on solid ground," the older hedgehog pointed out with a grin. "'Sides, I kinda missed seeing you sideways. It's more 'you.'"

Zonic punched him in the arm. "Oh, shut up. Seriously though, I hate staying sideways for extended periods of time. It's disorienting, even with my training."

"Well then, what are we gonna do? Tails isn't here, so he can't fix that thing up for you."

"I guess I'll have to go get another one from No-Zone." Zonic sighed. Going back to his home Zone would probably mean his friends and co-workers finding out about his little age problem. And he was _really_ hoping that no one else would have to find out about it. "Well, a hedgehog's gotta do what a hedgehog's gotta do, I guess."

"I hear ya," Sonic nodded. "I'd probably only slow you down if I tagged along, so I'll meet you back at the workshop. Cool?"

"Sounds like a plan," Zonic said, fiddling with the controls on his- thankfully waterproof- belt. "I'll catch you later." He pressed the button on the center of his belt buckle, and _zwoop!_ He was gone.

ooo

“So, what else are we gonna do today?” the tiny fox asked cheerfully, following the green hedgehog inside with excitement in his step.

Scourge stopped and glared down at his young charge, his eyes like daggers.  _ “We’re _ not doing anything,” he spat, still highly annoyed at being forced into playing tag with a tiny fox child who was faster than he was.  _ “I’m _ gonna open a bag of chips and watch some TV.  _ You _ are not invited.” He opened the pantry to retrieve said bag of chips, and grabbed a soda from the fridge while he was at it. Just as the two-tail was about to reach inside to grab a juice box, he closed the door.

Lil’ T pouted. “But Zonic said--”

“Zonic is also now several years younger than me,” the hedgehog said, “so I don’t give a damn about what he says. He can’t do a thing to me.” He sat down on the couch in the living room, kicking his feet up on the coffee table. He made a face as Tails hopped up next to him.

“Well what am I supposed to do?” the kid asked. “Big Sonic and Zonic are off doin’ stuff in the ruins, and Sonic and older-me aren’t back yet from getting the Chaos Emerald. I don’t have anybody to play with!”

“Keep yourself busy.”

“I’m a little kid stuck in the future. You think letting me ‘keep myself busy’ with no supervision is a good idea?” Lil’ T said, recalling the mac ‘n’ cheese incident of a few days prior. The kitchen still had a lingering burning scent. He reached for the bag of potato chips that Scourge had opened up for himself, and got his hand slapped away.

“Fine. Just… sit there and don’t bother me,” the hedgehog grunted. He tuned on the TV and shoved a handful of chips in his mouth, keeping the bag away from Tails.

Every show had been replaced with news reports about the mysterious stopping of time all around the world and the monster attacks that coincided with them. Every once in a while, Scourge flipped the channel to something concerning the multiple Sonics and Tailses currently running around (huh, so people had noticed after all), but there was nothing interesting on. Even so, whenever Tails opened his mouth to speak, he turned the volume on the TV up higher, effectively drowning the kid out. After a while, the fox gave up on trying to get a word in, and he reached over Scourge for the bag of chips. The hedgehog held the chips further out of reach. Tails reached further. Scourge moved the chips farther away. After several minutes of this, Scourge was lying on his side, holding the bag of potato chips as far out as he could. Tails was on top of him, stretched out as far as he could go, fingers barely grazing the bag. The fox was giggling, tousling with the hedgehog, and as much as Scourge tried to be mad at the kit for interrupting his TV time, he couldn’t muster up anything more than a mild annoyance. There was nothing on anyway, so at least he wasn’t getting distracted from anything good.

“Okay, hey, time out! Your knee is in my ribcage, ow!” the hedgehog said, pushing Tails off of him and back onto the couch. He sat up and breathed, readjusting the sunglasses that rested atop his head.

“It’s not my fault you weren’t sharing!” Lil’ T said with a laugh. He picked up the remote, which had been discarded in their wrestling match, and muted the TV. “That was fun. What now?”

_ “What now?” _ Scourge asked incredulously. “Look kid, I for one am completely content to just sit here on this couch and spend the day drinking all of Sonic’s soda.” He took a sip from the can and burped loudly.

“So then what am I supposed to do?”

“Keep quiet and not bother me, preferably.”

“I’m gonna tell Zonic that you’re not playin’ with me,” Tails said, crossing his arms.

“Is that how we’re doing this?” Scourge cocked an eyeridge. “Fine! If that’s how it’s gonna be, fine. I’ll play with you. Go look through the video games, pick out a good one.”

Lil’ T nodded happily and leapt off the couch, diving for the game cabinet. He searched through the shelves of games, looking at the covers of the interesting ones and reading the backs. The kid had to hand it to the older Sonic; the hedgehog had never been terribly neat or tidy, but the games were carefully organized. Then again, maybe the older Tails had been the one to organize the cabinet while Sonic wasn’t home. He couldn’t tell.

He searched for several minutes, occasionally holding up a game for Scourge to see and give his opinion on. Most of Tails’ suggestions were met with scoffs or snorts, and one or two were met with a “Hmm, maybe. Keep looking.” After what felt like far too long to the fox, they finally agreed on a game.

“Okay, what about this one?” the two-tail held up the game, starting to get annoyed.

“What game is that?” Scourge squinted, unable to read the small text on the cartridge. He got up off the couch and walked over to Tails, who was sitting cross-legged in front of the game cabinet. The kit held up the game in his hand, which Scourge promptly snatched and inspected. The title of the game was Monster Truck Madness, and it looked to be a game where you just drove a monster truck around and raced and ran over stuff. He handed it back. “Put it in,” he said, approving of the choice.

Lil’ T got up and excitedly plugged in the game, setting everything up while Scourge watched. The green hedgehog wasn’t super eager to play, but any game where he could run stuff over was A-OK in his book. They turned the game on and, since the controllers didn’t have long enough cords to reach all the way to the couch, they sat on the floor, looking up at the widescreen TV. After the opening sequence, Scourge selected race mode from the menu (he’d demanded to be player one so he would have control over what was going on, and also because he was once the King of Moebius and he wouldn’t let some little kid be player one instead of him). They picked out their monster trucks, Scourge selecting a green one and Tails picking out a yellow, and then the race began. Lil’ T held the A button down while the clock counted down for the race to start, so he got a slight boost when he took off from the starting line, allowing him to pull ahead of his opponent easily.

“Whoa, what the heck, how’d you do that?”

“You underestimate my gaming abilities,” the young fox said, his tongue sticking out his mouth at an angle. He didn’t take his eyes off the tv.

"That's not fair, I want a restart," Scourge said, crossing his legs as he mashed on his controller, desperately trying to catch up. It seemed like Tails somehow knew every single shortcut on the track.

"It totally is fair! Neither of us have played this game before, so it's fair. I'm just better, I guess."

"What do you mean you've never played this before- you're hitting like, every freaking shortcut!"

"I can just see 'em coming," the fox shrugged. "It's not hard if you just look at the map. You can figure out where the shortcuts will probably be."

"I still want a restart, this is ridiculous," the green hedgehog grunted. He crashed into the side of the course, eventually getting stuck and having to go in reverse to get out.

"Why, because a six-year-old is beating you?" Tails giggled. He was already done with his first lap, while Scourge still had a quarter of the way to go. He growled, his sharp teeth showing. No, he couldn't- he couldn't be beaten by a little kid. Even if that little kid was cheating, he had to find a way to win. So he shut his mouth, leaned in forward, put on his game face, and starting mashing at the buttons even harder.

"Third lap!" Tails cheered. "Just one lap left and I win!"

"You know, I haven't exactly played video games in a while! I've been busy taking over my planet and whatnot."

“Yeah, and I was teaching Sonic how to swim.”

“What, you don’t believe me? I had a crown and everything!”

“Sure, if you say so, ‘King Scourge.’”

“Whatever. Look, just because you're winning doesn't mean a thing, got that?"

"Got it."

"Why are you being so smug?"

"Pay attention, you're about to drive into a ditch."

"What? Whoa!" Scourge immediately swerved, narrowly missing the huge hole in the ground that his truck would have plummeted into. "Jeez, that was close."

"You're welcome," Tails said with satisfaction, getting ready to complete his finish lap. Scourge was only halfway through his second.

"Don't get cocky, kid, I can still beat you. Come on, power up, power up, power up..." he muttered, hoping to drive through an item crate soon. Luckily, he did, smashing it open with his huge tires. "Missiles! Oh yeah, baby! Suck nukes!" He fired all three of his homing missiles, which traveled around the track and stopped Tails' monster truck in its tracks, only one hill away from the finish line. While the yellow truck got pummeled with weapons, the green one shot ahead, driving across the finish line just as the yellow started to move again. Scourge stood up, holding his controller in the air like a trophy. "Oh yeah, that's right! All hail the king, baby!" he cheered triumphantly.

"You didn't win," Tails said simply, not taking his eyes away from the screen. "You just finished your second lap."

"I what." Scourge looked at the screen and saw that, while his truck had stopped dead in the middle of the road, Tails' was making a beeline for the finish line to complete his third lap. "What?! That's impossible! I beat you!"

Confetti appeared onscreen as the yellow monster truck crossed the finish line and drove over the green one, crushing it. "Sorry, not really," he said calmly. There was a hint of smug contentment in his voice. "Good race, though!"

"Good race my ass, you cheated in the beginning. I demand a rematch."

"If you insist," Lil’ T smiled, starting a new race.

Three races later, and the fox was up 4-0 on the ex-con. Scourge was starting to run out of excuses for his losses, so Tails was just nodding to whatever he said, figuring it would make him feel better. He suggested they try something besides race mode, to which Scourge quickly agreed. They decided on a free-for-all mode, which had a big arena with never-ending amounts of things to smash.

While they were playing, Sonic came back through the door, entering quietly enough so that they didn’t notice him.

“Ew, no, girls have cooties,” Tails said, sticking his tongue out. The blue hog had apparently walked in on the middle of a conversation. He couldn’t help but smile.

“Yeah, that’s what everyone thinks at first,” Scourge said, driving over a pile of sedans. “You’re not gonna think that forever, though.”

“Yeah right. Girls are gross! They like flowers, and dolls, and-“

“I know plenty of girls who don’t like that stuff.”

“You come from a different universe, that doesn’t count.”

“The kid has a point,” Sonic said smiling, making his presence known. Scourge nearly jumped out of his skin.

“Jeez! Ever heard of knocking?!” the green one shouted, turning around to face him.

Sonic held his hands out and glanced around. “It’s my house,” he said simply. He walked over to the couch and sat down. “Looks like you two are having fun,” he observed.

“Not really fun when I’m actually playing fair for once, meanwhile shorty over here feels the need to cheat all the time,” Scourge said, turning his attention back to the game. While he wasn’t focusing, Tails had pulled ahead in terms of things squished. “See? He’s a cheater.”

“Yeah, well Scourge likes girls!” Lil’ T exclaimed.

“Not an insult, Tiny. Nice try, though. Maybe next time.” Scourge punched Tails in the arm, nudging him over. “So where’s the incredible shrinking Zone Cop?” he asked Sonic.

“He had to go back to No Zone to get a new spatial stabilizer. Guy ran into a lake and shorted it out.”

“He can run now?” Scourge asked, raising an eyeridge.

“Yep! At least something good came out of all this. Did little me or Tails report in while we were gone?”

“Nope,” Tails’ younger self replied. “They’ve been gone a long time, huh?”

“You said it. Almost a whole day…” Sonic said nervously. “I’m getting pretty worried about them. If Z hadn’t just taken off with his fancy teleportation belt, I’d be tempted go and find them.”

“I think they’re okay,” said the small fox. “Sonic knows what he’s doing, he wouldn’t let the military people at Metal Harbor catch him. And older-me is even better at doing stuff than I am, so I think he’s okay too.”

Sonic sighed and sat back in the couch, letting his quills relax and splay out as he did so. “I sure hope you’re right, kiddo.”

ooo

Zonic reappeared ninety degrees away, in a small, dark room. He grinned. Just as planned. If his 'porting was correct (and it always was), he was in a broom closet, not far from the monitor station he shared with Zector and Zespio. He didn’t want to pop in there suddenly and scare the crap out of one of his friends, so he made sure not to teleport directly into the monitoring room.

The teenager groaned. He knew hoping for the station to be empty was useless. One of his friends was _sure_ to be on duty, and there would be no sneaking around them. He was going to have to let them in on his 'condition.'

Unless they already knew. Sure, there wasn't a monitor in there that showed Zonic specifically, but surely he would have shown up on Sonic's or Scourge’s. But if Zector or Zespio knew, they would have called him by now, without a doubt.

Then again, he hadn't been wearing his helmet since he shrunk a few hat sizes. They could have been ringing him up all day and he wouldn't have noticed.

Well, Zonic figured there was only one way to find out, and that was to go in there and talk to them himself. And pick up a stabilizer or two, of course. So he gently opened the door of the closet and peeked out, making sure no one was in the hallway. Luck was on his side. The corridor was empty, so he stepped out into the fluorescent light and shut the door behind him. He started walking in the direction of his monitoring station; his shoes were still too wet to run in without slipping and sliding all over the place. The squishing sound they made also made it impossible to sneak past anyone he might come across. _'Wonderful.'_

He was about to turn a corner when he froze. He heard high heels, coming his way. He glanced behind him. A female, purple cat in a decorated uniform was headed this way, checking something on a clipboard. He cursed under his breath and ducked into the hall he was turning into. _'Great. Of all the people to find me like this, it just has to be the Chief. Fan-freaking-tastic!'_ he thought bitterly. It wasn't far to his monitoring station. If he could just dash in there... Compared to his boss, explaining his situation to his best friends would be a piece of cake.

Ignoring his sloshing sneakers, he raced down the hallway as fast as his legs could carry him. It really wasn't far-- Zonic was so caught up in focusing on his feet that he almost missed it. He slammed the _open_ button next to the door, which slid open quietly. He stumbled into the room and slammed the door closed. He collapsed to the floor. _‘That was too close,’_ the hedgehog thought.

“Zonic?”

_ ‘Oh right. Not out of the woods yet.’ _ He looked up warily to see Zector and Zespio both staring down at him.  _ ‘Crap.’ _ He only expected one of them to be there, not both. They must have just been about to switch shifts.  _ ‘Well, they were bound to find out about this sooner or later,’ _ he gulped, glancing downward.

“What are you doing here?” Zector asked, getting up from his chair.

“And why are you all wet?” Zespio raised an eyeridge. Zonic slowly got to his feet, his heart in his stomach.

“It’s… complicated,” he said. The high-pitched timbre of his voice left a bad taste in his mouth, and it seemed to linger in the silence of the room. Zonic suddenly realized again just how short he was. Zespio was normally a little taller than him, but now the chameleon trumped him by a solid half a foot. Zector _ towered _ over him now. He felt tiny, and for a reason he couldn’t quite explain, he felt scared.

“... Zonic?” Zespio gasped, both he and the crocodile taking a tentative step closer. “Is that you?”

“In the flesh,” Zonic shrugged sheepishly, shaking some of the pond muck off of him and onto the floor. “The damp… soggy, flesh.”

“What the hell happened to you?!” the chameleon asked, shocked.

“Why are you so tiny?” Zector wondered.

_ “Shh!” _ Zonic hissed, mainly at Zespio, who was being his regular loud self. The chameleon and crocodile were strangely different from their Prime counterparts, something that never ceased to confuse Zonic. “I almost ran into the Chief on my way here, and for obvious reasons, I’d  _ really _ rather not see her today!” he said. He looked down at himself and sighed. “I… I don’t even  know what to say, really. I don’t know how to explain this. I just… woke up younger like this.”

“How does someone just wake up younger?” Zector asked, his voice low.

“It has to have something to do with Mobius’ crumbling time stream. I must have been affected by it somehow. Look, I don’t really know how or why this happened to me. I just know that it did.”

“Blue…” Zespio pulled off his helmet. He let his concern show on his face. “Are you okay?”

The hedgehog rubbed his hands over his arms. He was covered in goosebumps. “I… Yeah. I mean, I’ve definitely felt worse.” His heart lifted a bit as he recalled his earlier run. At least being thirteen had an upside to it.

“But… how do you know you’re okay?” Zespio asked. “If you don’t even know how this happened, how do you know it’s run its course?”

Zonic’s eyes widened. “What?”

“Hey, Zespio, calm down,” Zector said softly, placing a large hand on the chameleon’s shoulder to hold him back.

“But what if he keeps getting younger? Zonic, what if you wake up tomorrow and you’re an eight-year-old, or a toddler or something?”

“You don’t know that’ll happen,” Zonic took a step back.

“You don’t know that it won’t,” the chameleon said grimly. “Can you even change back? What if Zec and I get stuck taking care of a- a kid?”

Zector narrowed his eyes at him. “Zes, cool it,” he said, his voice quiet and authoritative. “You’re freaking him out.”

Zonic did look visibly shaken that his friend could suggest something like that, that he could be stuck this way. He swallowed the lump that was quietly forming in his throat. “Sonic and I have it covered,” he said in a low voice. “I’ll fix this. Look, I just came back because my stabilizer broke, so let me grab a new one and I”ll get out of your hair.”

“Wait, so… when were you going to tell us about this?!” Zespio exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the sides. Zector didn’t try and calm him down this time, instead looking at the young hedgehog expectantly.

“I…” Zonic breathed. All eyes were on him, and he didn’t like it. He didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know. I guess I was kind of hoping that I would fix this without having to tell you guys at all.”

“But… why?” the crocodile asked. “Hey.” He got down on one knee and put his hand on the teen’s shoulder, engulfing it. “Kid, we’re your friends. Why didn’t you want to tell us?”

“‘Cause… ‘Cause look at me!” Zonic gasped, his throat squeezing shut again. “I rank higher than you guys, but now I’m so much younger--”

“So what?” Zector smiled toothily. “You’re normally younger than us anyway.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But what? Don’t tell me you were scared of how we’d react.”

“Well, I…” the hedgehog said softly. He didn’t know what to say.  _ Was _ he scared? He supposed he hadn’t thought about it, but… “I don’t know if  _ scared _ is the word I would use… Nervous, I guess? And can you really blame me? No offense, but you guys can get a little… over protective. I just…”

“You didn’t want to feel babied,” Zespio cracked a small grin. “Same old Zonic. Are you sure you’re any different? Maybe you just shrunk.”

“No, there’s something definitely the matter with him,” Zector chuckled. “Look at those quills! When’d you get that haircut, the eighties?”

“Oh, ha ha ha. You guys are hilarious,” Zonic rolled his eyes and brushed the croc’s hand off his shoulder. Even though he wore a smirk, behind it he was concerned about what the chameleon had said. What if he got even younger, what if he was stuck like this? He had of course thought of these things last night and all of the morning, but Sonic had been there to calm him down and take his mind off of it. Now that one of his closest friends was suggesting what he had been so afraid of, it seemed all the more likely. “Look, guys--” he started, but he was promptly cut off by the door _ swoosh _ ing open behind him.

The sound of high heels entered the room, as their owner stepped in and shut the door. “Lieutenants Zector and Zespio, I need to talk to you about--” the purple cat glanced up from her clipboard to see Zonic. Young, sopping wet, trying really hard not to freak out Zonic. The hedgehog quickly came to attention, standing up straight and holding his hand up to his head.

“C-Chief Zlaze, ma’am.”


	19. Return to No Zone

“C-Chief Zlaze, look, I can explain--”

“Captain Zonic? Is that you?”

“Yes, it’s me, now if you’d just--”

“How did this happen?”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Zonic gasped, his quills flaring out in frustration. “You know about Mobius Prime’s crumbling time stream, right? It’s why I called in the total Zone lockdown yesterday?” he breathed, trying to think of a way to explain the situation to his commanding officer. She nodded, looking him up and down with disbelief. “I was affected by it somehow,” he continued. “I just woke up like this, younger. I’m still me, I just look different,” he said gently, holding his palms out to keep her calm..

Zlaze took a deep breath, leaning back against the wall to compose herself. She stared at Zonic the whole time, making him feel a little uncomfortable, though he tried not to show it. After a few moments, she finally asked, “Why are you soaking wet?”

“I fell into a lake,” the hedgehog shrugged sheepishly.

“Um, Chief,” Zespio spoke, stepping forward, “what did you need to talk to us about?”

The cat exhaled, stepping away from the wall and running her fingers briskly through her lavender hair. “Actually, I needed to talk to you about Zonic,” she said, her expression looking serious. “But since the Captain is here now, I might as well include him in the conversation, hmm?”

Zonic gulped. What did she have to say about him? It obviously wasn’t his sudden teenager-ness, since she just found out. He really didn’t like the tone she was using, so whatever it was she wanted to discuss, it wouldn’t be good. “What is it, ma’am?” he asked, his voice coming out quieter than he intended.

“Well, let’s just see here,” the feline said, peering down at the clipboard in her hands. “You left your post, dumped your monitor shifts and responsibilities on these two here,” she motioned to Zector and Zespio, “you went to the Prime Zone without backup while its timeline is crumbling, you failed to report in on the situation and keep us informed, and you let Scourge out of prison! All behind my back!” Zlaze shouted, eyes and temper fiery.

“Technically, the Warden cleared him for probation…” Zonic muttered quietly.  "And I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that I had to run every single thing I do by you first. I assumed after six years of being a Zone Cop, I could take control of a situation and make my own decisions."

"Your 'star officer' status does _not_ permit you to make decisions concerning the safety of an entire Zone, nor does it allow you permission to talk back to your superiors."

"Just because you're my superior doesn't mean you always know what's right!" Zonic retorted. Man, he'd been wanting to say that for _ever._

"What did I just say about talking back, _young man?"_ the Chief said, uttering the words 'young man' like they were poison. Zonic slumped his shoulders a little bit. He didn't like where this was going.

"I just look younger, that's all. The changes that took place were all physical ones, not mental ones," he said, on the defensive now.

"Really? Because the _older_ Zonic wouldn't argue and talk back to a higher officer. He would take the blame and get the job done- the right way."

Zonic tensed up. He didn't want to admit it, but she was right. Normally, he'd have just accepted the blame for his numerous screw-ups, not resort to childish arguing. Had he really changed that much...?

He took a deep breath, the confidence previously swelling inside him having vanished. He found himself barely able to look the cat in the eye. "You're right. I would have just accepted the blame. I'm sorry."

"Apology accepted," she said. "However, given your current condition, I am being forced to declare you unfit for active duty."

_"What?!"_ Zonic gasped, his stomach doing circles again. She couldn't do this! Did she have any idea how important it was that he STAY on active duty? He had a job to do!

“Chief, please, if I may?” Zector said, stepping forward so he was right behind Zonic. Honestly, the hedgehog had momentarily forgotten that he and Zespio were still in the room with them.  "Zonic may be younger in appearance, true, but he  _ was _ born twenty years ago. And while he certainly does not still have the manners of an adult-" Zonic narrowed his eyes at him- "he still has mind of one. I think taking the Captain off active duty would do more harm than good."

“Yeah, and besides,” Zespio chimed in, “the kid joined the Zone Cops when he was only fourteen! Blue, how old are you now?”

“Um, thirteen,” Zonic said somewhat sheepishly, rubbing his arm. He was covered in goose bumps, but whether it was from the cold water or the conversation, he couldn’t be sure.

"Y'see, Chief? He's almost the same age! You can't take him off 'cause he's younger than he should be," the chameleon crossed his arms in satisfaction. He loved being able to stand up to his boss almost as much as Zonic did.

Chief Zlaze groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration.  _ "Fine," _ she eventually said, "I'll keep the Captain on active duty. But you must remember to report back to us what's going on! We can't tell everything from just watching the Prime Zone monitors. You’re our only officer in the field here, and because of what just happened to you, I’m not exactly keen on sending in anyone else. So you’d better shape up, Hedgehog."

Zonic breathed a sigh of relief. _"Thank you,"_ he said, a tinge of exasperation in his voice. It was times like this that he was really glad he was friends with Zector and Zespio. They always had his back, even if he did sort of dump all his Zone Cop duties on them while he was away. He was going to have to apologize for that later.

"Still, you're not off the hook, Zonic," the Chief said, placing her hands on her hips. The hedgehog groaned. Of course he would still be in trouble. "Once Mobius Prime is safe, I expect a highly detailed report of this whole thing. _Highly_ detailed. And we need to have a talk about what to do with Scourge. I don’t care if he’s helping you or not, you can’t simply bust someone out of prison whenever it suits you."

Zonic gulped. Scourge wasn't going to like that, not one bit. He’d been promised freedom if he behaved himself, but now it was looking like that might get taken away. But Zonic could tell that Zlaze was being dead serious about this, and wasn't about to change her mind. Arguing would probably just get him in even deeper trouble. He nodded reluctantly. "Y-yes ma'am..."

"Good," Zlaze said, feeling a bit triumphant. "I'll allow you to continue your work on Mobius Prime. Just don't die, alright? I don't want to have to fill out the paperwork. And the next time you try a stunt like this without running it by me first," she said, almost with a growl, as she leaned in close to Zonic, “I’ll have your badge and make sure you’re stuck on janitorial duty until you retire.” She stood up straight and, with one final glare at the three of them, turned on her heels and left the room.

Zonic groaned as soon as she left. "That… could have gone better,” he said bitterly. “Man, what am I gonna do? Sonic and I told Scourge that he'd be free to go if he behaved himself, and he's actually been... as well-behaved as he can be, I suppose."

“What’d you tell him that for?” Zespio scoffed. “That’s a pretty stupid thing to promise.”

“I know! I know,” Zonic’s eye twitched. “But it was the only way we could get him to come with us!”

"You know you'll get in massive trouble if you disobey a direct order like that," Zector said gruffly.

"Yeah... I just hope she’ll listen to reason if Scourge actually turns out okay." The hedgehog frowned. He still didn't completely trust Scourge, but seeing him so vulnerable and afraid in Zone Jail had given him a new perspective. He figured that the guy at least deserved another chance. Maybe if he really showed signs of being a better person by the end of it all… He shook his head. It wouldn’t do him any good to worry about that now. He would just have to talk to the Chief later. He looked down at the dented silver bracelet dangling from his wrist. His stabilizer was practically hanging on by a thread; no way it was going to work anymore. The extra spatial stabilizers were kept on a shelf above one of the monitors. Zonic reached up to grab one and grimaced. “Guys,” he said lamely, “I can’t reach.”

Suppressing a snicker, Zespio reached his arm up and easily grabbed a stabilizer from the shelf. He handed the new device to the flustered hedgehog, while eyeing the hunk of junk around his wrist. “What’d you do to the stabilizer you had?” he asked with a chuckle. “Attach it to a fire cracker or somethin’?”

_ “No, I didn’t attach it to a fire cracker,” _ Zonic said in a mocking tone, sticking his tongue out. “Let’s just say that these things need to be waterproof, and leave it at that.”

“Yeah, speaking of waterproof,” Zector added, an eyeridge raised, “your stabilizer isn’t the only thing that got waterlogged.” He looked down at the puddle around Zonic’s feet, which had been steadily getting bigger over the past few minutes.

“Ah. Right,” the hedgehog said, looking down at his sneakers. Between the fancy SOAP shoes and his longer quills, he must’ve brought more of the lake with him than he thought he did. He cringed, suddenly overly-aware of how his damp, baggy clothes were clinging uncomfortably to his body. “Maybe I’ll stop back at the apartment and take a shower… see if I can find some clothes that fit, too,” he sighed. Of course, the one Sonic to spontaneously become younger was the only one to wear pants.

The three stood quietly for a moment, each one trying to figure out how to say goodbye. The beginning of their impromptu meeting had been awkward enough, but now none of them knew how to end it.

“L-look, I should probably go,” Zonic said after a while. “But… I just wanted to say thanks, guys. For putting up with all of my crap lately. Y’know, after I sort of dumped all my work on you, and then I didn’t want to even tell you about  _ this… _ ” he pointed to his face sheepishly.

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” Zespio smiled. “You’re helping Sonic Prime save the world. You’re allowed to be a selfish ass every once in a while,” he laughed.

Zector nodded, a toothy grin on his face. “What are friends for?” he said, placing a large hand on Zonic’s skinny shoulder. “Now get outta here, before someone else decides to come barging in.”

Zonic nodded. “Okay. Thanks, you guys,” he said, catching their contagious smiles. He nodded once before ‘porting away, leaving his two friends in the HQ.

He reappeared a split second later, just inside his apartment. He quickly slipped off his SOAP shoes, which were still pretty wet and gross, and left them to dry. He looked around. Oddly enough, he wasn't used to being here during the day. The hedgehog almost never took a day off, and was always working whenever he could. It was a little disorienting, but he quickly got over it. 

The apartment was messier than it was when he left it a few days prior. Probably because he hadn't been there to make sure his roommates cleaned up after themselves. The small, but usually spotless apartment now had plastic snack bags littering the tables, dirty dishes piled in the sink, and the TV remote was nowhere to be seen. Oddly enough, as opposed to the chameleon’s Prime-self, Zespio was usually the one making messes, and Zector was surprisingly the more orderly of the pair. Still, CDs from the croc's music collection were everywhere. Zonic sighed. Maybe it was his inner teenager talking, but he was  _ not  _ in the mood for cleaning up their messes. Instead, he tromped over to the bathroom, struggling to rip off his clothes as he went. The wet cloth was sticking like glue to his body- or maybe it was the pond gunk that had made its way into his fur that was making him feel sticky. Either way, it made him feel disgusting. He managed to tear off his t-shirt by the time he got to the bathroom, and his pants and socks followed shortly after. He placed the new spatial stabilizer on the sink, and reached into the shower and turned the knob. Cold water started pouring down from the showerhead, but it didn't take long to warm up. He stepped inside the hot spray, instantly feeling a whole lot better. It was amazing what a shower could do for a guy.

While he did feel relieved that he told Zector and Zespio about his  _ condition, _ he couldn’t help but think about what the Chameleon had said.  _ ‘What if I do keep getting younger…? I know Sonic said not to worry, but… it is a serious possibility,’ _ he thought, running the water through his long quills.  _ ‘Or what if I get older instead? Wake up tomorrow and I’m old and gray? I think that would be worse than being younger, actually,’ _ he shuddered.  _ ‘I’ve already  _ been  _ thirteen, so hopefully this body’ll be easier to get used to. Don’t think I’ll ever get used to this haircut, though. Honestly, what was I thinking back then?’ _ He wrestled with the mess of quills, which was quickly getting heavier as more water got into them. The clean water was forcing out the murky pond water, which did make him feel better and more refreshed. He supposed all he could do now was make himself as comfortable as he could while he was stuck in his thirteen-year-old body. The faster he adjusted to the change, the better it would be for everyone. He just hoped he wouldn’t change again, unless he was aging back to normal.

He leaned against the cool tiled wall of the shower and started scrubbing the gunk out of his quills and fur.  _ ‘And to think, I only came here to grab a stabilizer and then go right back. But no, I end up getting my ear yelled off by the Chief. She was right though… am I really still myself? I mean, I still have all my memories and stuff, but do I still act the same?’ _ He supposed he  _ had _ been talking back to Zlaze, something he wouldn’t normally do. Not to mention how nervous he’d been lately about what people thought about him… but that was a natural response, right? He just woke up that morning seven years younger than usual, after all. Of course he wouldn’t act like himself, right?

He pulled his hands away from his head and looked at them as he washed the soap off. It was weird, since he didn’t immediately recognize them as his own hands. They were so small and soft, so unlike what they were normally. He had forgotten that he used to be a kid. There was a point in his life where he’d never held a gun, where he’d never handcuffed anyone. This was the body he had before he became a Zone Cop, before he lost his speed. He was a completely different person back then. It was natural for some of his old personality and mannerisms to bleed through. That was the only explanation he could come up with, anyway.

Once he was sufficiently warm and clean, he shut off the water and grabbed a towel. He dried off his face, pressing his features into the softness of the towel. As far as he knew, there wasn’t anything he could do about his sudden adolescence, so he was just going to have to deal. He had a job to do, anyway. Stopping the Time Eater was priority number one, and he couldn’t get distracted from that. Speaking of which, he needed to get back to Mobius Prime. He told Sonic that he’d be right back, after all.

_ ‘I’ll just go through my clothes and see if I have anything small enough to fit me, and then I’ll go back home,’ _ he thought, wringing out his quills. He froze.  _ ‘Wait. Not home.  _ This _ is home, No Zone is home. Why did I just think that?’ _ He walked out of the bathroom, still a bit damp, and headed towards his bedroom. He shook his head.  _ ‘Whatever. It was just a slip, I just used the wrong word. Doesn’t matter.’ _ He stepped into his room, closing the door behind him.

Zonic's bedroom was small- Zector and Zespio shared a room, so naturally he got the one with less square footage. Zector was a light sleeper, as light as they come, and he couldn't stand Zonic's snoring habit. Plus, the croc and the chameleon had bunked together in the past, so they didn't mind sharing a room. That left Zonic, miraculously, with a room of his own. His bedroom contained little but the necessities. A bed pressed against one wall, a chest of drawers to hold his clothes and some other items, a wall-mounted bookshelf, and a desk with a computer with plenty of space to work. The only decorations in the room were a few photographs of his family and Zails, and a massive Chao in Space poster that dominated the wall above his desk. The movie was his personal favorite, and had seen it enough times to have the whole thing memorized. Zonic didn’t have a whole lot of hobbies and interests, but that movie was something he could talk about for hours.

Ignoring the poster, he went straight for the chest of drawers, ripping it open and rummaging through the bottom drawer. He immediately went for the clothes at the bottom and in the back, as the smallest ones had most likely been pushed back there. After a few minutes of pulling out clothes, holding them up to himself, and then tossing them aside, Zonic came across a pair of jeans that could fit him if he rolled them up a little bit, as well as an old white t-shirt that was about his size.

Just before he was about to close the drawer, something inside it caught Zonic's eye. It was a jacket. It was red and black, with a high yellow collar, and had the old Zone Cops insignia on it. This was the jacket he'd gotten when he'd become a field officer when he was fifteen. He’d only worn it a handful of times before he grew out of it. He pulled it out of the drawer and slipped it on over the t-shirt. It fit surprisingly well, and would keep him nice and warm to boot. He thanked his lucky stars that he never had the patience to go through his wardrobe and chuck his old clothes, or else he’d be getting tripped up and tangled constantly in his adult-sized clothing.

Deciding he had spent enough time in No Zone, the hedgehog slipped his new spatial stabilizer onto his wrist and clicked it on. A small LED light on it shone green, showing that it was on and operational. He grabbed the SOAP shoes that were by the front door, strapped on his belt, doing it up tight, and set its coordinates for Tails’ workshop on Mobius Prime. He took one final look around the apartment, making sure he didn’t leave anything important behind, before porting back to the Prime Zone.

Zonic teleported in at what appeared to be the exciting climax to an intense three-man video game tournament. Sonic, Scourge, and the young Tails were all playing some sort of fighting game, and they were going all out. They all sucked at it, but they all sucked around the same amount, so it was still a fair fight. They were shouting like they were watching the Superbowl, and the room erupted into a cacophony of noises when one of the on-screen characters died.

Once they noticed Zonic had joined them, Sonic grabbed a fourth controller so he could participate and asked him how he was holding up. The Zone Cop explained his encounter with Zector, Zespio, and Zlaze (though he left out the bit about Zlaze disapproving of Scourge’s freedom) as he took up the controller and selected a character.

It felt weird playing video games when there was just so much to worry about. Zonic was worried that he would keep getting younger. Sonic was worried about his past-self and Tails, though he kept telling himself that they were fine, and that the communicator just wasn’t working again. Scourge was worried, though he didn’t let it show, about what he’d seen in the mirrors at Twinkle Park the day before. With everything that had happened so far that day, it should have been the least of his worries, but it kept cropping up in his mind inexplicably. But there they all were, playing video games like old friends, like the world wasn’t in danger.

It didn’t last long though. Tails quickly got bored of the fighting game and wanted to drag Scourge off to do something else. Sonic wanted to go on a short run while there was still light out. Zonic needed to practice with his laser pistol, to get used to the feel of it again. So the group broke off again, each person eager to find out the locations of the next Emeralds but glad for the short breather the universe had given them.

ooo

Scourge found himself in the never-ending hallway again. His shoes were padding gently across the hardwood, and he looked for anything-  _ anything _ that could be used as a landmark. Everything in this place looked the same as the last time he had the dream. Same red wallpaper, same “ambient” lighting, like the kind that you pay extra for at restaurants. He hated this dream. When he didn’t have it the night before, he assumed he had seen the last of it. Apparently he hadn’t dreamed because of his concussion, but since he was healed up for the most part now, it seemed like the weird dream returned. He sighed and continued walking down the hallway, since standing in place wouldn’t do him any good.

As he went along, he couldn’t help but feel like something was off. The whole dream itself was always off-putting, but this was a little different. He felt like he was being followed, watched from all directions. He could hear a sound like water dripping from a leaky faucet, but there was nothing of the sort for as far as the eye could see. Scourge frowned, and started to walk a little faster. He didn’t like this.

He peered up and down the hallway, looking for any sort of change. He noticed nothing different for a few minutes. Then, he saw a door on the left wall of the corridor in the distance. It was so far away it was almost out of sight, and it wasn’t a strange size or color, but he noticed it all the same. He felt drawn to it. Especially because it was the only door he’d ever seen in this place.

He rushed over to the door, the run itself feeling like an eternity. He looked up at it. It wasn’t any special sort of door. But what was it doing there? And what was behind it? He put his ear against the door and heard nothing but the dripping noise, which was so faint that he sincerely doubted its source was behind the doorway. He reached tentatively towards the knob and wrapped his fingers around it. He opened the door slowly and peeked inside. It was too dark to see anything, but there was a bright light far in the distance. Scourge stepped inside and the door closed behind him before he could do anything. He spun around, but the door was gone, replaced by metal bars reaching from the floor to the ceiling. “What?” he gasped.

The darkness had suddenly lifted, revealing a gray, concrete and metal room. It was small, and the bars only made up one wall.  _ ‘Oh no. No, not here-!’ _ Scourge looked down, and his fears were confirmed. He was standing there in his orange, patched up jumpsuit instead of his leather jacket. His fingers reached for his neck and found that an inhibitor collar was securely fastened around his throat. His eyes went wide. He liked this dream a  _ lot _ better when it was just a spooky hallway.

“Hey, Snot,” he heard a voice from behind him. Scourge felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach. “You’re up early. You excited to get your beatin’ out of the way?” The hedgehog turned around, obscenities flying through his mind.

“Smalls,” he gasped, his voice weak.This couldn’t be happening. He was supposed to be free from this guy, he was supposed to be safe. He never gave Smalls permission to haunt him in his sleep!

The giant cat hopped off the top bunk of the bed, the metal frame springing back into place once the massive weight had been lifted off of it. He cracked his knuckles and stepped closer, as Scourge backed into the corner and shrank into himself, trying to make himself a smaller target. “Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up…!” he muttered, pinching himself in the arm so hard he felt like he was going to bruise.

“What’re you goin’ on about?” Smalls asked, his sharp teeth gleaming in the fluorescent light. “You need a wake-up call? Well, don’t you worry,  _ big man. _ I got one right here!” He swung his meaty fist towards Scourge’s face. By some miracle, the hedgehog ducked just in time, and scrambled in between Smalls’ treetrunk legs to safety. “Oh no you don’t!” Smalls turned around and grabbed him by the ankle, yanking him down to the hard floor. Scourge landed with an  _ oof _ , his cellmate then picking him up by the back of his shirt and hurling him towards the metal bars. He hit them straight-on, and he hit them hard. He landed on his wrist as he fell to the ground, twisting it, and he could feel a slight trickle of blood coming from his nose. Smalls kicked him in the back, slamming him into the bars again, over and over. He tried curling up into a ball to protect himself, but he wasn’t given enough time in between kicks to even try and move. What sort of dream was this? He was in  _ pain _ , something that was supposed to be impossible. This wasn’t normal.

He crashed into the steel bars again and again, the loud clanging ringing out through the seemingly empty cellblock.  _ Someone _ must have heard something by now. Where were the guards? Did they even exist in this nightmare world? Sure, the prison guards in Zone Jail never exactly stuck up for him, but at least they made the other inmates wait until recess to beat the living daylights out of him.

He heard Smalls laugh darkly as someone approached. “What the heck’s going on in here?” said a voice, presumably a guard’s from his tone. Scourge couldn’t see, he had blood from his broken nose splattered in his eyes. “Scourge? Dude, can you hear me? Scourge! Wake up!”

“What?” Scourge opened his eyes. He was back in the Workshop. In Tails’ room, in the bunk bed. Smalls was no where to be seen. He glanced down at himself quickly. No orange jumpsuit, no blood, no bruises, nothing broken. He was still shaking from the nightmare, and covered in sweat.

He looked up. Sonic was standing next to the bed, looking surprised and… concerned? “Scourge, are you okay?” he asked quietly. “You were yelling in your sleep, I heard it up on the roof. What happened?”

“It’s nothing,” Scourge breathed, trying to compose himself. “Don’t worry about it, just leave me alone.”

“A-are you sure? It sounded like-”

“ _ Leave me alone.” _  The green one angrily pointed to the open window at the opposite end of the room, and Sonic got the hint. He quickly left and closed the window behind him without saying another word.

Scourge drew a shaky breath as he pulled the blankets, which he had tossed aside in his sleep, up around him.  _ ‘What the fuck was that?’ _ he thought, frightened. He hadn’t just been having another nightmare. None of his nightmares had taken place in Zone Jail before, and none of them made him  _ yell  _ before. But he knew one thing was for sure. He couldn’t go back to that place. Not again. Smalls would never let him hear the end of it. How he  _ almost _ was free, how he  _ almost _ got out of being beaten senseless, day in and day out. He’d get a month’s worth of pummelings in an afternoon if he was sent back. And then, he’d get blamed for starting the fight, and get thrown into solitary confinement. That was usually how it ended up going.

He would need to play his cards straight from here on out, or he was as good as dead.

“...Scourge?” The hedgehog’s eyes widened as he looked over the side of the bed. Lil’ T was looking up at his bunk, worried. The child was so quiet it was a wonder that Scourge had heard him in the first place.

“What do you want?” he hissed, and the fox kit shrunk into himself, making himself smaller. Scourge’s heart panged. That was him, just a moment ago. The scared kid on the bottom bunk. He rephrased the question, softening his voice just a little bit. “What is it?”

“I just wanted to know if you were okay,” Tails said. “You were kicking around a lot and shivering, and you looked really scared.”

Scourge rubbed a hand over his bare arm. He still had goosebumps. “It was just a bad dream, that’s all,” he muttered, turning away from the edge of the bed. “Don’t worry about it, go back to sleep.”

“Oh,” the kit whispered, and slid back into his bed. A few moments passed before he stuck his head out again. “You wanna talk about it?”

“What?”

“Do you wanna talk about it? ‘Cause whenever I have a bad dream, I tell Sonic about it and- and it makes me feel better.”

“No, I don’t want to talk about it. Go to bed.” Scourge flopped back down under the covers, his head on the pillow facing the wall.

“Okay… G’night…” Lil’ T said, laying his head back down on his pillow. The hedgehog sighed and pulled his blankets up to his shoulders. His fingers brushed against his neck.  _ No inhibitor collar. _ He closed his eyes shut tight.

“It was about… some place I never want to go back to,” he said quietly. Even without turning his head, he knew Tails heard him. He didn’t say anything after that, but he didn’t have to. The fox was smart enough to know not to pry further. So he simply said goodnight to Scourge again and fell asleep.

Sleep didn’t come as easily for the ex-con, however. His mind was numb, but at the same time racing. He wanted to fall asleep, but he didn’t want to risk having another dream like that one.  _ ‘No more opening doors. Ever,’ _ he thought. He had been hoping for some sort of change to the static hallway, but that was not the sort of change he wanted. From now on he would be completely content with the never-ending hall with the creepy figure at the end of it, calling his birthname and bleeding out of its forehead.

He shivered just thinking about it. He used to have  _ good _ dreams. Dreams of ruling the world, of people bowing to him. Dreams about lounging in a pool of strawberries and cream, surrounded by supermodels. Why couldn’t he have those dreams? Why did he have to get stuck with the homicidal kitty cat?

He stared at the wall until the sun came up. He hadn’t moved once in those five hours. Some part of the back of his brain told him that if he made any sudden moves, Smalls would see him lying in the top bunk, and then he’d  _ really _ get it. He knew Smalls wasn’t in the room, of course. But he was just so used to the cat being there, smacking him around constantly. He felt paralyzed.

Once the morning light filtered in through the window and dimly lit the room, Scourge felt relieved. He hadn’t moved a single finger all night long, terrified of what might be lurking in the dark waiting to get him. The sunlight brought a sense of security, a feeling that he truly was alone in the room, aside from the young Tails sleeping in the bottom bunk. The green hedgehog allowed himself to relax a little bit. He wasn’t afraid of the dark, by any means. He usually prefered it. But that dream had freaked him out to a degree that he wasn’t used to.

He yawned. He felt completely drained. He had dozed here and there throughout the night, but it was nothing substantial, and he hadn’t been relaxed enough to fall into a deep slumber. He sat up slowly and stretched, feeling stiff from remaining in the same position for so long.  _ ‘I probably have another few hours before everyone else wakes up,’ _ he thought sleepily.  _ ‘Maybe I can actually get some rest before someone comes in here to be my own personal alarm clock.’ _ He flopped back down into the bed, his head burrowing into the cooler, untouched parts of the pillow.  _ ‘Just… no nightmares this time,’ _ he hoped as he quickly drifted off to sleep.

ooo

 

It was around 9 o’clock the following morning, and Sonic was still snoozing on the workshop roof. The clear, warm weather had prompted him to sleep outside like he normally did; honestly, he felt much more comfortable sleeping on a roof or a tree branch than he did in a bed. The recently risen sun’s rays were keeping him toasty and warm, even though he still shivered occasionally when the pain in his chest flared up. The aches and the fact that Tails and the younger Sonic still weren’t back had kept the speedster up for most of the night. When he did finally manage to fall asleep, he twisted and turned, and woke up often. By the time morning had come around, he was not feeling particularly well-rested. 

So when he heard a dull mechanical humming mixed in with the chirping birds of the Mystic Ruins, he was quick to wake up and question its source. The hedgehog rubbed his eyes, cursing the sun for being so bright. He looked to the sky, shielding his tired eyes with his hands, and looked for anything unusual. There was a dark speck in the sky, soaring amongst the clouds in the distance, and it looked to be getting closer. It took Sonic a few moments to recognize it , but when he did, he leapt to his feet immediately. It was a plane.  _ His _ plane as a matter of fact, and that could only mean one thing.

“They’re back,” Sonic sighed with relief, a smile forming on his face. After what had felt like ages, his little bro and his younger-self were back from Metal Harbor. He had been starting to get really worried after almost two days with no contact, and was getting close to going to look for them himself. It looked like he wouldn’t have to, now. Now he just hoped that neither of them had gotten hurt on their mission.

It took the Tornado a few minutes to approach the workshop and land on Tails’ specially designed runway. As soon as it touched down, Sonic jumped down excitedly from the roof and ran over to the red biplane. “Tails! Sonic!” he shouted, waving as he approached. The smaller hedgehog sitting atop the wing waved back, looking tired and dirty but otherwise healthy. Tails appeared to look the same as he put the Tornado into park.

“Hey, older-- woah, what the heck happened to you?” Mini-Sonic asked, eyeing his older-self’s chest with concern. The older of the two blinked, initially confused, before he remembered that his scar had grown by a decent amount since these two had been gone. He could explain the scar later, though. There were more pressing issues at hand.

"What happened to me?" he asked, both eyeridges shooting up. "I should be asking that to you guys! Where were you, what happened? You both had me worried sick!"

"Sonic, what are you talking about?" Tails said, hopping out of the pilot's seat and landing on the ground. "I know the communicators weren't working again, but we were only gone for a day. It usually takes longer than that for you to get worried!"

"You were gone for two!" the hedgehog exclaimed.

"Dude, we left yesterday afternoon. What the hell are you talking about?" the younger Sonic sputtered.

"Wha... But you were... You left two days ago! This doesn't make any sense!" The elder stressfully placed a palm on his forehead and pushed his quills back. "Did you guys get stuck somewhere where time was being funky? Maybe time passed slower for you than it did for the rest of us?"

"Hmm," Tails hummed, a finger on his chin and his namesakes fidgeting. "It would make sense. Those monsters  _ were _ messing with the time stream. Maybe they threw all of Metal Harbor out of whack? Because time definitely wasn't stopped there, but..."

"Right, maybe they just slowed the whole area down and we didn't notice," the dark-eyed hedgehog determined. He shuddered at the thought of those monsters, remembering how they slowed him down immensely. He hated being in their control like that. He sincerely hoped that he wouldn't run into any of the giant ones again any time soon.

The twenty-year-old sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Chaos, it's too early to be thinking hard about this stuff. I'm just glad you two are back." He grinned and walked up to Tails to hug him, before pulling back and slapping a hand over his nose. "Oh, jeez! You smell like a dump, dude!" he gagged.

"Don't remind me," Tails deadpanned. "For future reference, try not to get time monster goo all over you. Not a very attractive smell. I've been breathing through my mouth for the past twelve hours."

"Same," little Sonic said. "That reminds me, I totally called dibs on the shower. Gods, I can't wait to get this gunk out of my fur..." He raised an arm up to smell his pit, and quickly pulled his face away. “Oh, it’s ungodly,” he choked out, much to his older-self’s amusement. “Here,” he said, pulling the blue Chaos Emerald out of his quills and handing it over to him. “We got the Emerald. I wouldn’t put it near your nose if I were you, though.”

“Sweet,” the taller hog said, taking the gem in his hand. “Five down, two to go. Now- go, go shower. Please,” he said with a laugh.

“Um, Sonic,” Tails said, his voice lowered and his eyes glancing up towards the house, “is there  _ another _ Sonic in the workshop right now?” Both Sonics’ eyes went wide, and they looked up at the window the fox was inadvertently spying. A blue, teenaged hedgehog was peering through the window, but quickly ducked away when the two Sonics turned to look.

"Woah, what?" the younger one gasped, not having expected that. "Seriously, if there's another one of us around here I might just lose it," he groaned. There were already three blue hedgehogs living in the workshop, and he didn't think he could handle a fourth.

"It's not another me, calm down," the older incarnation sighed. "Some... crazy stuff kind of went down while you guys were away," he said. "I'm not exactly sure how to explain it."

"Well," Tails rested his hands on his hips, "if that's not another Sonic, then who is it? Because he looked too young to be Zonic."

"Actually..." Sonic squeaked, forcing the word out of his mouth as he scratched the back of his neck.  _ This _ was going to be fun to explain.

Both Tails' and the younger Sonic's jaws dropped. "By 'actually,' you mean..." mini-Sonic breathed.

"Yeah. That's Zonic. The crumbling time stream has not been kind to him," the elder sighed. "He's still the same old Zonic on the inside, but his body de-aged. He's... kind of sensitive about it. C'mon," he said, nodding his head towards the workshop and walking towards the door. "I mean, you know already, and I guess he knows that you know, so we might as well get this over with, right?" The two recent arrivals just looked at each other and shrugged. They followed the older speedster back into the house, questions flying through their heads. They stepped through the door, finding no one downstairs in the living room. "Hey guys!" Sonic called upstairs, "Tails and little me are back! They got the Emerald!"

A dull moaning could be heard coming from Tails' bedroom, which Sonic assumed was Scourge just waking up. Lil' T quickly came barreling out the door and flew down the stairs, a huge smile on his face.

"You're back! What took you so long!?" he cheered, hugging both his older self and his big brother at once, seemingly immune to their smell. As the three exchanged greetings, the door to the second bedroom upstairs gently opened a crack. Sonic looked up to the loft above to see Zonic peering out the door cautiously. The scarred hedgehog cracked a sympathetic smile and shrugged as if to say, 'might as well come down and say hi.' The door opened a little bit wider, this time enough to catch the others' attention. Zonic looked down at the floor as he emerged from the room. All eyes were on him as conversation grinded to a halt.

“Tada,” he said weakly, daring to glance at the fox and younger hedgehog on the floor below. He held his arms lamely out to the side, as if to show off his younger body. “Sonic told you guys what happened?”

“Just that you randomly got younger,” Mini-Sonic said uncomfortably. He was painfully aware of just how similar Zonic’s voice sounded to his own.

“Yeah. Woke up yesterday and I was thirteen. Surprise,” he said sheepishly. He cracked a small smile, and then dashed down the stairs lightning quick, shocking the newcomers. “It’s not all bad, though.”

“Woah!” Sonic and Tails jumped back, grins forming on both of their faces. “I didn’t know you could run like that!” the fox exclaimed.

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” the Zone Cop said, mysterious and over-dramatic. He suddenly made a face. “Ugh, Chaos, you guys--”

“Stink. We know,” the youngest hedgehog facepalmed. “I’m taking a shower. Let’s debrief everyone on everything afterwards, okay?” He yawned. He and Tails had been up all night flying back from Metal Harbor. While he did catch a little bit of shuteye, sleeping on the wing of a plane that was flying over open ocean made him uneasy, so he was pretty tired. What he really wanted to do after he took a shower was lie down for a nice, long nap. But of course, saving the world came first. He trudged upstairs, stretching as he did so, and slipped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

_ ‘Debriefing sounds like a good idea,’ _ his older self thought.  _ ‘With everything that’s happened recently… Zonic turning into a kid and going back to No Zone, Scourge losing that bet! … and then he started screaming in the middle of the night. What was that all about?’ _ he frowned, looking up at the bedroom door upstairs.  _ ‘I think we all need to have a talk.’ _


	20. Frog Forest Fiasco

Once everyone was fully awake and showered, they convened in the kitchen for a late breakfast/debriefing session. There wasn’t enough room for all of them at the table, so Scourge and the younger Sonic sat on the countertops as they ate. Sonic and Zonic tried their best to explain everything that had happened over the past two days, from Scourge getting a concussion and spending quality time with lil' T to Sonic's scar and Zonic's sudden teenager-ness. In turn, the younger Sonic and older Tails described the huge time monsters they faced, and how they could alter the flow of time around them.

"They slowed me down, man! Everything around me was going so fast, it was crazy," the young hedgehog said, recalling the event unhappily. "They were in control of my speed, not me. It was so not cool."

"At least you can still run fine," his older self said, absentmindedly running his fingers along his scar. "I can only go for ten, fifteen minutes before I start hurting. Dodging the monsters that invaded the Special Zone was not fun, I'll tell you that." He frowned bitterly. That last fight was awful. His lungs had burned, his head started to pound, and even his legs started to feel sore, something that had never really happened to him before. He detested the feeling, and the worst part was that he knew he couldn't avoid it.

"Really?" Tails said, breaking open the yolk of his fried egg with a fork. "Maybe you should take it easy for a little bit, stay home while we get the other Emeralds."

"Are you kidding? I've been at home resting for a day and a half, dude! I feel fine," Sonic insisted. He got up and ran in place, his legs moving so fast they blurred. "See? Totally okay."

"I'm still concerned that the time monsters managed to get into the Special Zone in the first place," Zonic said, his brow creasing. "The Cosmic Highway is under total lockdown now, so the Zone Cops are heavily monitoring any trans-zonal travel. But still... I'm worried that might not be enough. We hardly know anything about these creatures and what they're capable of."

"We know that the bigger they are, the more control they have over time," Tails said. "And that Chaos energy is their food source, but they can't touch an Emerald. That's why they've been gathering wherever the Emeralds are."

"And we know electrifying 'em is a good way to kill them," mini-Sonic said. "The bigger they are, the harder to kill. I learned that the hard way."

"I dunno," Scourge shrugged, "they didn't seem that hard when I was fightin' them. Only reason I got hurt was because we were on a freakin' roller coaster while the fight was goin' on."

" _ I _ didn't get hurt, and I was there with you," Zonic smiled.

"Shut up, shorty," Scourge grunted.

“The monsters themselves aren’t the only mystery around here,” Tails said thoughtfully. “What about Zonic? We know he got younger because time is all screwy, but why him? He’s not even  _ from _ Mobius.”

Everyone stopped to think about that one. It was a good question: why was someone from the No Zone being affected directly by Mobius’ time stream? Why didn’t Sonic or Tails get any younger or older? It was definitely bizarre. 

“Well, it looks like we have more questions than answers,” the older Sonic said, cracking his knuckles, “but we still know what we have to do. We have to get the Chaos Emeralds so we can stop the Time Eater and fix the time stream. Having answers would be nice, but whether we know exactly what's going on or not, we still have to save the day." He stood up from his seat at the kitchen table and started stretching. He'd been stuck in the house for too long without going on a nice run. The hedgehog was craving some action and some butts to kick.

"Right," Tails agreed, standing up as well. "Well in that case, let’s check the Emerald radar downstairs. With five Chaos Emeralds, tracking down the last two should be a cinch." He collected the Emeralds, which were scattered across the kitchen table, before heading downstairs. Everyone got up and followed him into the lab. "Sonic, you said that nothing had popped up on the radar since we left, right?"

"Yeah, it hasn't found anything since. I thought it would have picked something up by now," the green-eyed hedgehog said, staring up at the large computer screen and tapping his foot impatiently. A map of Mobius was displayed on the screen, with bright green dots on it where Emeralds had been found recently. There was no new data, aside from areas of the map that had turned a bright purple color, indicating a disruption in the flow of time. There was beginning to be a distressing amount of purple.

The elder fox began typing away at the computer, bringing up windows and scanning data. After a few seconds of this, he sighed. "Sonic, did you put new Emeralds in here and then forget to reboot the radar?"

"...It needs to be rebooted?" the hedgehog scratched the inside of his ear sheepishly.

"Yeah!” the kit said, exasperated. “Any time you add or take away Emeralds from the energy chamber over here, you need to reboot the system so it can accommodate. No wonder you guys didn't find anything while little Sonic and I were gone." The younger Sonic chuckled and stuck his tongue out at his older counterpart.

"Oh, can it. It'll be your mistake, soon enough," Sonic said with a huff. Tails made sure all five Emeralds were safely inside the energy chamber next to his computer, and initiated the reboot. The screen turned to black, then quickly flashed back to life. The radar program loaded quickly, and almost immediately, a new dot appeared indicating the location of an Emerald.

"See? What did I tell you?" the fox said with a smirk.

“Not my fault you didn’t leave instructions for this thing…” the hedgehog mumbled, glaring daggers at the device. Everyone crowded around the computer to get a look at the map. Just two Emeralds left to go, and they’d pinned down one of them. They were almost done.

“So where’s the sixth Emerald?” Scourge asked, staring at the unassuming green dot on the screen. It was in the planet’s southern hemisphere, closer to the equator. “Some sort of jungle?”

“Looks like Frog Forest to me,” Sonic said, a smile forming on his face. “Sweet! This’ll be fun, we haven’t been there in ages. Tails, you gonna come along?”

“I think you can count me out on this one,” the fox replied with a yawn. “I’m still exhausted from Metal Harbor, and it looks like I’ll need to put in some manual effort to search for the last Emerald, since the radar’s not picking it up on its own. Plus… ” He pulled out a small glass vial, filled with purplish time monster goo. “I have some stuff I want to look into.”

Sonic nodded, silently wondering what about the time monsters Tails was interested in. “Sounds fair. Lil’ Me? You in?”

“Sure, why not?” the small speedster grinned. He rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck. “I’m not letting you steal all the glory.”

“I’m coming too,” Zonic said, taking a step forward. Sonic blinked.

“Um, are you sure that’s such a good idea, dude? I mean--”

“Prime, I can  _ run _ again. I’m taking this new body of mine out for a field test, and you’re not stopping me,” the No Zoner insisted, prodding a finger at Sonic’s chest.

“I can’t blame you for wanting to go. I’m just saying, you need to be careful. You don’t know what your own limits are--”

“Seriously, man? I’m thirteen, not defenseless. I can handle myself.” He crossed his arms against his chest and stood his ground. He wasn’t about to budge on the matter, and he seemed determined to go, whether or not Sonic thought it was a good idea. Sonic sighed.

“Okay, you got it. You are cleared for travel, Mr. The Hedgehog,” he said with a grin, slapping Zonic on the back.

“I’m goin’, too,” Scourge said, lazily raising a hand. “I’m sick of waiting around here. Thought my days of sitting around doing nothing were over when you guys dragged me here.” The elder Sonic nodded and gave him a thumbs up, while the younger glared at him with distrust. After everything that Tails had told him about his Moebian counterpart, he was not feeling terribly inclined to trust the guy. The young hedgehog nearly had a heart attack earlier when he heard that Scourge and his younger brother had spent a day hanging out together. Who in their right mind had let his little bro spend the day with a criminal?

Speak of the devil, Lil’ T jumped up and hovered at Scourge’s eye level. “I wanna come, too!” the child said excitedly, his dark eyes shining with anticipation. “Can I come guys? Please? Can I can I can I?”

“I dunno,” the older fox sounded unsure. “Frog Forest is a lot more dangerous than it sounds. I almost got killed a few times when we were there last time, and I was three years older than you are now!”

“So? I can do it! I wanna go!” the kit pouted. “Danger’s my middle name, I’ll give those time monster creeps everything I got!”

“Fine, you can come too,” the older Sonic said with a smile, shocking his past self and his brother. He winked at them. “But I guess big Tails won’t get to give you a tour of the lab once he’s done with his work… He said he was really looking forward to it, too…”

Lil’ T cocked his head to the side, confused. “The lab? As in, the room we’re in right now? I’ve already seen pretty much everything in here.”

The older fox’s face broke into a mischievous smile. “Well, yeah, but I could have shown you all the processors, quantum flux hard drives, Chaos propulsion schematics…” He sighed dramatically. “Oh well. I was going to readjust the air canisters on Sonic’s old Extreme Gear later, too. I guess I’ll just have to do it by myself.” He slumped his shoulders forward in disappointment.

The mention of the Extreme Gear grabbed the attention of both the young time travelers. They looked up at the older fox, eyes wide with wonder. “Extreme Gear?” they asked simultaneously, filled with utter curiosity.

_ “Hoverboard,” _ the older Sonic said with a wink.

“Are you telling me…” Little Sonic said, a grin spreading across his face, “that sometime within the next eight years, I get a  _ hoverboard?!” _

“Yup,” his older-self nodded nonchalantly.

“As in, a board that  _ hovers? _ And I can _ ride _ on it?!”

“And race it. I’ve got a couple of trophies upstairs.”

“Oh my gods… I’m gonna get a hoverboard!!” the hedgehog squealed, his voice bursting up an octave as he did so. He hadn’t been this excited about his own future since he saw the video games in the workshop’s living room for the first time.

“Yeah!” the twenty-year-old said proudly. “Too bad Lil’ T won’t get to see it, since he’s coming along with us and all-”

“Uh, I dunno,” the small fox said hesitantly, wringing his hands together. “That air canister thing sounds pretty tricky… I think older-me could really use my help on this one.”

“Aw, are you  _ sure?”  _ Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips and giving Lil’ T puppy dog eyes.

The fox responded with no hesitation. “Yeah, I’m sure. Have fun guys!” he said, flying over to Macro-Sonic and pushing him up towards the basement stairs. “See you later, don’t forget to write!”

“Alright, alright, we’re leaving now!” Sonic said as everyone else laughed. “Come on guys, let’s leave the geniuses to their work.” Lil’ T gave him one last shove as he dramatically fell up the stairs, leading the other three hedgehogs out of the lab. They said a round of quick goodbyes to the two foxes as they left, regrouping in the living room. “Zonic, care to lead the way?” Sonic asked with a smile. Zonic nodded, and made sure he had both his gun and the inhibitor collar attached to his belt before opening up a portal to the jungle.

The four of them emerged from the portal, dropping down a substantial height before each landing on a huge vine. They didn't remain stationary, however; they immediately started sliding down the vines, a surprise to everyone but the older Sonic. The other three wobbled, trying to keep their balance, at least until they brought up speed and their momentum was steady. Zonic was just grateful for the old pair of SOAP shoes he was wearing, making balancing on any sort of rail a lot easier.

The vines twisted and turned through a massive jungle, extending for as far as the eye could see. They were high up in the canopy, dancing above the treetops. Oddly enough, enormous mushrooms that grew from the unseen forest floor poked their heads out of the foliage up top, and the heads of many of them were large enough for groups of people to stand on. Massive tree trunks made up most of the safe-looking platforms, as well as large, mossy platforms that looked like they were entirely formed out of plants. There was a sweet smell in the air, and sounds of wild animals below them sang in their eardrums. It was a beautiful forest, truly unmarred by civilization. The most curious thing about it, though, was the distinct lack of frogs to be found anywhere.

"That's weird," the older Sonic said as they jumped off the vines and landed on solid 'ground,' touching down on a massive tree trunk. "There are usually giant frogs all over this place. Y'know, hence the name. But I don't see or hear any of 'em around here."

"Well, we only just got here," Zonic reminded him. "I'm sure we'll see some later. Which way to the Emerald?"

The two Sonics and Scourge closed their eyes, trying to focus on the energies dancing around them. After thirty seconds or so, they all raised their arms and pointed in the same direction. "That way, about ten miles," they said.

Zonic looked off into the distance, following their pointing fingers. Once again, he felt like the odd man out, being the only one in the group unable to sense Chaos energy at all. Even with his speed back, he still felt like a poser, a cheap knock off. He bit his lip.  _ ‘Oh, get over yourself. So you’re not a perfect Sonic clone, that’s a  _ good  _ thing,’ _ he thought, trying to snap his head out of that train of thought. Why should he care whether or not he could sense Chaos Emeralds, anyway? It wasn’t his fault that No Zone didn’t have any Emeralds of its own. "Only ten miles?” he said, masking his frustration with a smile. “That's not far at all, we can run there in a second.”

"Normally, yeah," the smaller Sonic said, walking to the edge of the trunk and peering out into the distance. "But through jungle this dense? I don't even know how much running we can  _ do _ out here. It looks like there's a few loop-de-loops way out there, but there's not a whole lot in between. I don't think this place is a particularly speed-friendly environment."

His older-self shrugged. "All depends on what you make of it," he winked. "Most of the speed you get out here isn't from running, but from grinding and swinging, and launching yourself off of the bouncy fruits. It's fun!" A wide grin broke across his face. Finally, he was out of the workshop, in the fresh air, hunting for an Emerald. Plus, if he played it right, he might be able to go this whole trip without his chest and legs getting sore from running too much.

Unfortunately, while this was good news for Sonic, it only ticked Zonic off a little more. “What, so I have my speed back, and now I don’t even need it? Great,” he said. There went the one upside to him being thirteen.

"I never said that!" Macro-Sonic insisted, quickly backpedaling on his previous statement to make it sound like Frog Forest had more running space than it actually did. Ignoring them entirely, Scourge was looking out at the horizon, his brow furrowed. Something wasn't right here, he could feel it.

"Hey guys," he said, but only the younger Sonic heard him. "Guys!" he tried again, this time successfully getting the attention of the other two. "It's only 11 in the morning or something, right?" he asked, getting a series of nods all around. Frog Forest was in the same time zone as the Mystic Ruins, so the time should have been the same. The green one pointed to the sky. "Then how come the sun is setting?"

That took everyone by surprise. They stared up at the quickly-darkening sky in disbelief. They couldn't believe what they were seeing, and to a lesser extent, they couldn't believe they hadn't noticed it sooner. The sun was also setting  _ incredibly _ quickly, as if it were on double or triple speed, at least. Plus... was it in the wrong part of the sky?

"If I'm not mistaken, the sun should be setting over  _ there," _ Zonic said, pointing west. "Why is it in the east?"

"Because it's not setting," the smaller Sonic said, clicking his tongue nervously. "It's rising. In reverse. Time is... flowing backwards, it looks like," he breathed. Looking around at the details in the environment, this became more clear. Plants rustling in the opposite direction from which the wind blew. The occasional bird flying backwards, and at ridiculously fast speeds. If one looked close enough, plants could be seen un-growing with the naked eye.

"Well, that's certainly not good," the older Sonic said. "At least  _ we're _ not going backwards, too. But still, I'm thinking we should try and get out of here as fast as possible, agreed?" he asked. There was no need for anyone to answer. "So, we know the Time Monsters are here and wreaking havoc, as per usual... but that still leaves one question. Where are all the frogs?"

"What's so special about these damn frogs, anyway?" Scourge asked as the group started walking in the direction of the sixth Emerald. "They're just frogs, why should we care?"

The lighter blue Sonic cleared his throat with exasperation. "Saving animals is kind of my thing, that's why," he said with the sort of tone that  _ dared _ Scourge to dis wildlife again.

"Plus, the frogs in this forest are giant frogs that can summon rain," the older incarnation said. "If you get up close to one, you’ll startle it and it'll summon a short rain storm. Depending on what color frog it is, green or black, the rain will either help plants grow super fast, or it'll kill them. Pretty cool, actually, and both frogs can be helpful in certain situations." He perked his ears up, listening for any tell-tale croaks. "Not sure how that would work out, since time appears to be reversed. Maybe the green frogs would just cause the plants to un-grow faster, if everything is backwards."

“Ugh! Whatever, we’ll figure out the dumb frog physics when we find one,” Scourge grunted, shoving his hands into his pockets. He muttered under his breath, “We have an Emerald to find, and Blue’s worried about nothing but damn frogs… figures…”

Though he intended for no one to hear that comment, the young Sonic’s ears perked up. "Hey, let me get one thing straight here," the twelve-year-old said, poking a finger into Scourge's chest. The other two hedgehogs were out of earshot, and were focused more on the wackiness of watching time flow backwards. "I. Don't. Like. You."

"Woah, hey, what'd I ever do to you, shorty?" Scourge said, looking confused and sounding slightly taken aback. “I know you’re a total hippie when it comes to  _ animals _ and the  _ environment _ and whatever, but--”

"Tails told me about the stuff you've done. The older Tails. That you're the anti-me, that you conquered your world and tried to take Mobius too. That older-me and Zonic brought you here from-- from  _ prison!” _ he whispered harshly, glaring a hole in Scourge's skull.

"He said all that? I'm flattered," the green hedgehog grinned, showing off his razor sharp teeth.

"Yeah. And I don't know what the hell possessed my future self to forgive you, but I'll tell you one thing. I don't. So don't get on my bad side, and for future reference,  _ stay the hell away from my brother. _ You give me one reason, any reason at all, to kick your ass--"

"Yeah yeah, tough guy, cool your jets. I ain't here to hurt anyone or conquer anything, dumbass. Doncha think I'd have tried something already if I was?" Scourge rolled his eyes and shoved the kid back. "Just because I don't like workin' with you guys doesn't mean I'm not gonna help. I know what's at stake here if we don't stop what's happening."

Sonic clenched his teeth together. "Whatever. Just stay away from Tails, got it?" He glared at Scourge once more for good measure before stomping off to join the others. Scourge exhaled through pursed lips, annoyed.

_ ‘Damn, Sonic was even more of a pain when he was younger,' _ he decided, before following the group of blue hedgehogs in front of him, albeit at a slower clip. He wasn't much in the mood for socializing any more on this trip.

Meanwhile, Sonic the elder and Zonic had run a little ways ahead, happily taking in the scenery and feeling the pounding of their feet on the ground. They weren’t moving particularly fast- Sonic wanted to conserve his energy, and Zonic wanted to get used to moving at high speeds again. Both were feeling good, and although Sonic was still concerned by the forest’s state of being, it didn’t mean he wasn’t allowed to have any fun while he was there.

"Hang on," Zonic said, skidding to a stop. "I think I heard someone. Down below." They peered over the edge of the huge tree trunk to the level of vegetation beneath them. On one of the many huge mushroom platforms was a large, purple cat with a fishing pole, calling out someone's name over and over.

"Hey, it's Big," Sonic observed, a curious smile on his face. "What's he doing here?" he wondered. Scourge backed away from the edge, looking uneasy. Sonic didn’t notice this, and turned to Zonic and his younger self instead. "Come on, he's a friend. Let's go see what's up."

"Y'know, I'd rather not," Scourge said quickly. "I mean, why waste valuable time talking to that fatass when we could be looking for the Emerald, right?"

Sonic stood up from the edge and frowned at the green hog. "Scourge, it's dangerous here. We need to find out why Big is here and make sure he gets out of here safe. Now  _ come on." _ And with that, he jumped on a nearby vine, sliding down to the mushroom platform below. The others followed close behind, and Scourge only went along reluctantly.

_ ‘Why does this have to happen to me?’ _ Scourge thought with a heavy sigh as he grinded down the vine.

As they reached the bottom, Big was roaming around the large pad, cupping his hands around his mouth. “Froggy!” he shouted, his voice booming and echoing off the vegetation. “Froggy! Where are you?”

“Hey, Big!” the eldest Sonic said, stepping forward and approaching the cat. “Long time no see!”

The feline put down the rock he was looking under and turned to face him. “Oh, hello Mr. Sonic,” he said slowly. “Are you okay? Your chest looks funny.” He pointed to the scar covering most of the hedgehog’s torso.

“Yeah, I got hurt a little bit,” Sonic said, shrugging it off. “I”ll be fine, don’t worry about it. What are you doing all the way out here? You live in the Mystic Ruins too, yeah?”

“That’s right,” Big nodded. His features fell as he looked around. “Froggy got lost again. I thought that he might’a come here, since he missed bein’ with other frogs, but I can’t find him anywhere.”

The younger Sonic rolled his eyes and whispered to Zonic, “The guy came to another  _ continent _ to look for his pet frog?” Z couldn’t help but chuckle; it was pretty ridiculous.

Scourge, unlike the others, did not find the cat’s ways amusing. He stood back, behind the two younger hedgehogs, and was incredibly stiff.  _ ‘He’s not Smalls. He’s not Smalls. This guy is a total idiot, he couldn’t do anything to you if he tried,’ _ he thought, slightly panicked. His fists were clenched tight, his fingernails pressed into his palms. He was having a hard time remaining at ease.

“I’m sorry to hear that, big guy,” Sonic said, patting Big’s arm. “Uh, not to say you shouldn’t be out here looking for your friend, but it’s starting to get really dangerous out here. Maybe you oughta look a little closer to home for him, and we’ll keep an eye out for him here?” the hedgehog suggested. He knew Big could handle himself in a fight-- he’d seen that fishing pole in action, up close and personal-- but the guy had no idea what he would be getting into if he stuck around.

“Hmmm…” Big hummed, one of his large ears twitching. “But I could’a sworn I heard Froggy’s croak around here--”

“There are millions of fucking frogs in this forest!!” Scourge burst, startling everyone and causing Big to jump back. “We haven’t even seen one of the big ones yet! The chance that you’re gonna find your  _ one, small, specific frog _ in this jungle is so low, just… just get the hell out of here, you son of a bitch!”

"Scourge, what the hell?!" Zonic exclaimed, giving the green hedgehog a shove.

"What the heck was that for?" The two Sonics asked, completely baffled and shocked. The elder one patted Big gently on the arm, as the cat had his ears pressed low to his head and looked extremely upset.

"This asshole made my life a living hell, alright?!" Scourge shouted, this time being held back by the young time traveler and the cop. "He beat the shit outta me, day in and day out! So don't go askin' me what the hell!"

Everyone's eyes widened at that. "Wha-- Scourge, this is Big, not Smalls, dammit!" Zonic growled, struggling to restrain the older hedgehog. "Smalls is secure in Zone Jail, he's not getting out!"

"Big here wouldn't hurt a fly!" Sonic said, standing in front of the feline. He wasn't normally great friends with Big, as they were more general acquaintances than anything. But he wouldn't just stand by and let his bad twin yell obscenities at the gentle soul.

Big nodded, still visibly frightened by Scourge's sudden outburst. "Froggy likes flies," he said rather quietly. "I get sad when he eats them, though."

"See?" said Sonic. "The guy's as sweet and gentle as they come."

"No, you're wrong about him!" Scourge yelled, breathing heavy and shaking. "He's...! I-I..." The hedgehog blinked, and seemed to get a handle on his bearings. His eyes went wide. "I gotta go," he gulped. He took a step back from the two smaller forms trying to restrain him, but he never took his eyes off Big. "I'll catch up with you guys later," he said, his voice thick. He immediately turned and ran, jumping off the huge mushroom they all stood on and landed on a vine, grinding away out of sight.

Everyone was silent for a few moments, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened. "What the hell was that all about?" Little Sonic muttered, tapping his toe to the ground anxiously. He looked to his older self, who only shrugged. Big looked utterly clueless.

"Scourge's cellmate in Zone Jail," Zonic explained after a few seconds. "He was the anti-Big. Apparently, they didn't get along very well."

The other two hedgehogs nodded in understanding, though Big simply looked lost. "Did I do something bad?" he asked, blinking cluelessly.

"What? No, you didn't do anything," Sonic explained to him with a sigh. "My... friend... just knew a guy who looked a lot like you. A mean guy. He doesn't hate you, honest." He looked toward the other two, who were still looking a bit rattled. “Someone should go after him.”

Zonic nodded, and wordlessly turned and jumped onto the same vine Scourge had escaped on. He sped away, leaving the two Sonics with Big for the time being. He followed the vine to the end, and jumped off onto another tree trunk, covered with moss and small mushrooms and other plants. Surprisingly, Scourge was sitting at the opposite edge of the platform, his feet dangling over the edge and his elbows on his knees. His head rested in his hands, and he appeared to be breathing shakily. Zonic had expected him to run further, not to stay so close by. "Scourge?" the teenager called, taking a step forward. Scourge didn't move. It seemed like he couldn't even hear his name being called. Zonic frowned. "Scourge," he tried again, louder this time, hoping to snap the older hedgehog out of whatever state he was in.

"What the hell... Of course that's not Smalls, what am I  _ thinking _ ... Get it together Scourge, you're crackin' up..." the green one muttered to himself, seemingly unaware that Zonic was even there. He looked extremely tense and frustrated, if the way he was gripping the short fur on his head was any indicator.

Zonic shook his head. What was up with Scourge? He didn't plan on waiting around to find out, so he walked up behind him and placed a hand on the leather-clad shoulder. Scourge jumped at the touch, getting to his feet in a blur of green. Whether he looked like he was about to punch Zonic or run away from him, the Zone Cop couldn't quite tell. Zonic pulled his hand away and stared at the Moebian, his expression a mixture of concern, confusion, and anger. He searched for the right question to ask, and eventually settled on "What was that back there?"

Scourge clenched his eyes tight and shook his head slightly, clearing his mind. He took a deep breath, in through his nose and out through his mouth, and got out of his 'fight or flight' stance. "I don't know," he answered simply. "I thought he was Smalls and I freaked. Honest mistake."

"Yeah, if you're going off just his looks, maybe," Zonic huffed. "Look, is there something going on with you? Because first it was the mirrors in Twinkle Park, now this--"

"I'm fine. And I told you, those mirrors were just 'cause I was blowin' off steam! So stop nagging me!" Scourge shouted, throwing his arms out to the sides. He stomped back over to the vine he rode down on, crouching down into a runner's stance. "Now let's get the wonder twins and  _ get out of here _ . I'm getting sick of this damn jungle." He revved up into a spin dash and rocketed up the vine, quickly landing back on the mushroom above.

Zonic, not totally convinced, followed after him, taking a running start and grinding back up the vine. The plant’s slippery surface made going up almost as easy as going down was. He met Scourge up at the top in no time and reconvened with the others, who were discussing something with Big.

“Wow, that was fast,” Mini-Sonic said, surprised that Scourge didn’t make more of an effort to get away. What also surprised him was how Scourge was standing so close to the edge of the pad, eyes down at his boots, ready to escape again if he felt he needed to.  _ ‘I can’t believe he’s afraid of a guy like Big,’ _ he thought, almost feeling bad for the guy. Almost.  _ ‘He must have been through some rough stuff if just seeing this guy freaks him out.’ _

The older Sonic cleared his throat and stepped forward. “We explained the general situation to Big,” he said, grabbing everyone’s attention. “He agreed to go back to the Mystic Ruins to keep looking for Froggy there, as long as we promise to look for him while we’re here.”

Zonic nodded. “Sounds fair.” Scourge said nothing, he only nodded. He just wanted the cat out of his immediate vicinity as fast as possible.

“Cool, looks like we have a deal,” Sonic smiled. He motioned Zonic over and turned to Big. “You ready to go, big guy?”

“Yup,” the cat said, happily, not even concerned about Scourge’s earlier outburst. Zonic pressed a couple of buttons on his belt, and summoned a portal. There were a few seconds where nothing happened, and then the familiar orange, swirling portal flashed into existence. It looked weak, if that was the right word for it, like it might collapse at any second.

“Go quick, I don’t know how long it’ll stay open,” Zonic said warily. “We must be getting closer to the Emerald, it’s making my gear act up.”

“Okay,” Big said, stepping one foot through the portal. “Bye-bye, Mr. Sonic. Good luck!” he smiled before vanishing through the portal completely. The hole closed up a second or two later.

_ “Finally,” _ Scourge said, letting out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “Now that that’s over with, can we get a move on?” The other three turned and glared at him.

“What’s your problem, anyway?” The young Sonic grumbled under his breath as he shoved past the green hedgehog. Scourge shot him a confused look as he walked away. Zonic followed the younger hedgehog as he stalked off, but the older Sonic hung back a little bit.

“Scourge? You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.

“‘Course I am! Why’s everyone gotta think somethin’s wrong with me? So I thought Big was someone else, big whoop,” Scourge said angrily.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Sonic huffed, sounding annoyed. “Excuse me for being nice.” He walked ahead with the others, and Scourge grumpily followed along in the back.

They continued onward, swinging and sliding through the jungle at a decent pace. Because the travel was mostly effortless, they didn’t have to stop to rest often, and the scar that had made its home on Sonic’s chest wasn’t hissing angrily. The older blue and Zonic had taken the lead, steadily travelling towards the sixth Emerald while the two others followed behind. None of them said anything, but they were all thinking along the same lines. Something was wrong with Scourge. Even though he constantly insisted that he was fine, it was obvious that something wasn’t right. He was physically okay, sure, but the isolated incidents of him freaking out weren’t seeming so isolated anymore.

_ ‘Getting Scourge to open up about anything is going to be impossible, I guarantee it,’ _ the older Sonic thought as he grinded down a vine.  _ ‘Even if there is something up with him, if he’s not going to talk about it, is there really anything we can do about it right now?’  _ Now he was finally able to understand why Tails got frustrated with him when he bottled up all his negative emotions. Sonic had always prefered not to talk about or show that he was sad or worried about something, and it appeared that Scourge was much the same way.  _ ‘Huh. Maybe I am as stubborn as everyone says I am.’ _ The hedgehog glanced behind him to see if Scourge and his younger-self were keeping up. Both of them were still in view, with Little Sonic closer than the ex-con was. He smiled, a fun idea hatching in his brain. "Hey Z," Sonic said over the whipping wind, "keep an eye on Scourge for a sec. I wanna do something real quick." He pulled back, turning on the brakes just enough that he was running alongside the younger Sonic.

"Yo, older-me," the child said with a grin.

"Yo yourself," the elder laughed. "Wanna race?" he asked, short and to the point. He needed some excitement-- their exploration of Frog Forest had been rather run-of-the-mill up to that point.

"Race you? Only if you’re up for it, gramps," the smaller hedgehog stuck his tongue out.

"Gramps?! Oh, you’re going down, kid." Sonic sped up his run, pulling ahead of his younger self. The kid smirked and accelerated, easily matching the other hedgehog in speed as they dashed past Zonic. Things were about to get interesting. The older one veered slightly off the path, jumping onto the large, orange fruit that were growing alongside the vegetative highway. He bounced high off of it, his momentum carrying him far. He reached his hand out, catching a stray vine, and gripped it tight in his fingers. He swung back and forward on it once to get a feel for it, before jumping off to the next one. He continued this while the younger Sonic ran on the path next to him, transfixed on the older's movements.

"Show off!" he exclaimed, while himself vaulting over uneven ledges in the walkway. He looked to the other side of the path, the side his older-self wasn't swinging next to, and noticed a long vine more suitable for grinding. He smirked. He pulled himself into a spindash, rolling along the ground at high speeds, before launching off the path and landing dead-center on the vine. He rode on it like it was a track, quickly gaining speed.

The twenty-year-old looked over from his swinging for a moment to see his younger-self spinning on the vine.  _ 'Well, that's one way to grind a rail, _ ' he thought rather proudly. Deciding he should get creative as well, he let go of the vine-trapeze he was swinging on, did a flip in the air, and caught the next vine with his knees, so he was swinging upside down. "Ha! How do you like them apples?" he laughed, his adrenaline pumping through his veins. He looked to see if his past-self could see him, but it looked like the smaller hedgehog couldn't even see very far in front of him. If he could, he would have seen that the vine he was grinding on was un-growing, and shrinking into itself. If he didn't move fast, it would come out right from under him. "Sonic!" the green-eyed hedgehog shouted, jumping off his swing immediately and rushing over to his younger counterpart. He reached an arm out and grabbed the young hedgehog, yanking him back onto the safety of the platform just as the vine ran out. They both hit the ground with a thud, skidding along for several yards and getting grass stains all over their arms and legs.

“What was that fo-- oh,” the younger Sonic gasped as he realized that the vine he was grinding on had suddenly vanished. He quickly rephrased his statement, a bit embarrassed. “Thanks for the save, older-me.”

“Don’t mention it, younger-me,” the taller one winked. “Any time. I think we definitely need to be careful about where we step from now on,” he said, getting back to his feet. He brushed some of the grass and moss off of him, but his royal blue fur was still stained green. “Great, now I look like Scourge,” he joked. He offered Mini-Blue a hand up, which the kid accepted.

“Speaking of Scourge, what possessed you to get him out of prison, anyway?” the twelve-year-old asked, surprising his counterpart.

The older hedgehog’s face showed a number of emotions at once. Shock and confusion ( _ ‘Where is this question coming from? Where did you hear that he was in prison? I didn’t tell you’ _ ), which quickly resolved into realization  _ (‘Bet it was Tails, he must’a told you at Metal Harbor’),  _ changing again into pity  _ (‘Scourge was a wreck in that place’) _ . He sighed, looking back behind him to make sure Scourge was way out of earshot. “Honestly, as weird as it may sound,” Sonic said, his voice oddly calm and quiet, “ever since the guy mutated with the Master Emerald a year or two ago, I thought he’d be able to be a good guy if he just tried.  The one time I suggested to him that he and I aren’t so different, that he could be good… he just had that expression on his face, that he knew I was onto something, even if he didn’t want to admit it.”

“Um, hasn’t Robotnik tricked you before into thinking he would surrender and be good?” the younger Sonic raised an eyeridge skeptically.

“Okay, that was one time,” the older quickly rebutted. “And besides, every time Eggman has ended up in prison so far, he immediately started scheming up some way to break out. Scourge… didn’t. The guy had no drive, he just gave up in there. When I found him, he was in the middle of having the living daylights beaten out of him by half the prison. I couldn’t help it, I felt sorry for the guy.” He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, everyone deserves a second chance, right?”

“No!” his past-self shook his head. “No, because he  _ conquered his world  _ and then _ tried to conquer Mobius. _ Someone who wants everyone to bow down to him shouldn’t get a second chance!” he said. He never thought he would be having this conversation with  _ himself. _ What had happened in the eight years that separated them that had caused Sonic to change so much? The young hedgehog was not one to forgive easily. He also wasn’t one to jump head-first into danger just for fun, and he certainly didn’t look forward to Eggman attacking so he could experience the ‘joy’ of smashing robots. He couldn’t imagine what on Mobius had changed him to such a degree.

“Right… forgot how much  _ more _ stubborn I used to be,” the older Sonic said quietly under his breath. “You’ve only been at this hero gig for two years, kid. One thing you’re gonna learn is that people change. Sometimes it’s best to just start fresh, not to hang on to every bad thing a person has done. Especially if that person is trying to change for the better, or regrets what they did.”

“Scourge doesn’t seem like the type of guy to have many regrets.”

“He also wouldn’t open up to anyone if his life depended on it,” the dark blue one let out a short laugh. “He said he wanted to give the whole hero thing a try, and we needed help getting the Emeralds. I wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth and leave him in prison, with vultures practically circling around his head.”’

The smaller Sonic grunted, his eyes narrowed. “I still don’t like him.”

“I’m not saying you have to. You asked why he’s on the team, and I told you. Simple as that.”

The kid shook his head. “How the hell are we the same person…?” His question went unanswered as two sonic booms could be heard a ways back behind them. Scourge and Zonic were catching up to them, and fast. “What’s up with them?” he wondered aloud, watching them approach.

“Dunno. I’m thinking we should run with them, though.”

“Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me.” They both took off running, already going at a decent pace when the Zone Cop and the ex-con caught up to them.

“Why are we running?” the older Sonic asked as they regrouped. “Not that I’m complaining or anything, just curious!”

“ _ That’s _ why, idiot!” Scourge shouted, pointing back from where he’d come. The vegetative path behind them was de-growing, just like the vine Mini-Sonic had been grinding on. The entire walkway was shrinking into nothing more than sprouts and saplings before sinking back to the forest floor entirely. If they didn’t move fast, the forest would disappear out from under them.

Sonic’s eyes widened. “Okay. Good to know,” he said, picking up the pace a little bit. He smiled. It was starting to feel just like old times. “Alright, let’s rock ‘n’ roll!” he cheered.

The four hedgehogs sped through the quickly diminishing landscape, moving as fast as they could. They ran through a few loops and corkscrews before being forced to leave the organic pathway. They leapt onto small, yellow mushroom platforms that were protruding from various trees and vines. Keeping their footing light in case a mushroom shrank out from underneath them, they spent more time in mid-air than they did with their feet on anything solid. The older Sonic started feeling discomfort in his chest and legs, but opted to ignore it. He couldn’t stop running, so he just had to hope the aching would go away.

"Uh, guys!" Zonic shouted over the rushing air and the pandemonium of the forest vanishing. "We're running out of space to run, here!" He pointed ahead, and sure enough, they were running out of platforms. At the end of the trail of mushrooms was a larger tree trunk, but past that there appeared to be nothing. Nowhere to go. "What're we gonna do now?" the cop asked, his eyes searching for another route.

"Just follow my lead," the older Sonic smirked. Luckily, he'd noticed something on the trunk of the tree that everyone else had either not seen, or deemed irrelevant. "I've got a plan."

The remaining mushroom platforms soon ran out, and quickly regressed back to mere buds along the vines. The four touched down on the tree trunk, which was starting to sink lower towards the ground as well. There was a large white flower in the middle of the trunk, with giant white petals and a thick stem. Sonic motioned for the others to follow him, and they gathered around the flower.

"So what's your plan? Play ring around the rosie around a giant freakin' daisy?" Scourge asked, completely skeptical of his good twin's planning skills.

"Oh, just shut up and help me whip up a wind!" the blue hedgehog yelled, annoyed. He spindashed rapidly around the flower, forming a small tornado. Noticing the flower's petals begin to spin, the other three caught on and began to help. Within seconds, they'd worked up a massive gale, and the flower’s petals was spinning like crazy. "Okay, now hold on tight!" Sonic shouted, breaking the flower's stem and grabbing onto it with all his might. He took off into the air, the others grabbing onto his feet and forming a long hedgehog ladder. The flower was hampered initially by their combined weight, but after a second or two it was whipped up by the winds and got them high off the ground. By the time the tree trunk began to shrink back into the forest, they were far away, soaring through the sky and being flung around like rag dolls.

They were at the flower's mercy; flying through the air with no way to steer, they just had to hope they would land somewhere where the reversal of time wasn't so extreme. Parts of the forest were shrinking all around them, leaves getting sucked back into trees and vines regressing back down to the forest floor. Even parts of the sky were in a frenzy. Clouds coming and going like flashes of lightning, and day changing to night and back again every few minutes. It was bizarre and disorienting, not to mention disconcerting. How many monsters had to be in the forest for time to be messed up this badly?

The flower brought them all high above the canopy of the jungle, giving them an impressive view. The entire forest was falling into chaos, with different areas at different stages of development.  It was inconsistent throughout, and made the four hedgehogs feel like there was no where that was safe for long. A number of trees in front of them shrunk rapidly, revealing sections of the forest floor, only it wasn't nearly as green as it should have been. It was a dense blackish-purple, and appeared to be... moving?

"Are those all time monsters down there?" Zonic asked, glancing downward. He was on the bottom of the ladder of hedgehogs, so his view was unobstructed as he looked towards the ground. "They're everywhere... the entire forest floor is covered in them!" he gasped, gripping Scourge's ankles a little more tightly.

"Holy shit," the green hedgehog mumbled, impressed by the sheer number of beasts below them. "We can't take all of them on. No way..."

Mini-Sonic grimaced. “We need to try though, right? We can’t just stand by and let them take over the forest… right?” He looked up at his older-self for confirmation.

“Got that right, little-me,” he said, his voice laced with his energetic grin. “Ain’t no way we’re letting these things win here. As soon as we’re on solid ground, we’re coming up with an attack plan.” He leaned left and right, doing his best to steer the flower towards a suitable platform. Just as the daisy started to slow its spin and begin its descent, they passed over a solid-looking tree that looked to be pretty old. Even with time going backwards as it was, all the older vegetation would take a while to become affected. “This is our stop!” he shouted as he released his grip on the flower, sending the group dropping to the ground. They all landed relatively no worse for wear, but the three other hedgehogs all had a look of uneasiness on their faces.

"Alright, I'm just going to ignore the fact that we  _ flew _ here by  _ flower _ and get right to the point," Zonic said, stressfully running his fingers through long quills. "There are way too many monsters down there, it's an entire army of them. Before we attempt to put a dent in their numbers, I think we should find the Chaos Emerald," he suggested.

"For once, I'm with Lieutenant Teen Angst over here," Scourge crossed his arms and frowned. "Not that I don’t want to fight all of those bozos, but we came here for the Emerald. That should be our first priority."

"We could always split up," the younger Sonic suggested. "Two of us search for the Emerald, the other two stay and fight."

His older self shook his head. "Nothing doing, little-me. Splitting up is a bad idea, especially in a fight. We should stick together for this one." The younger hedgehog  _ hmphed _ , but otherwise didn't put up a fight. With the time monster infestation this bad already, the world came first and the forest came second. "We should be closer to the Emerald now than we were before, even with all that side-tracked frantic running to escape certain doom," the older blue said to himself as he closed his eyes, keeping his body surprisingly still.

He relaxed his muscles and focused, letting the energies of the forest swirl around him. There was a large amount of energy in the air from all the plant and animal life, though it was getting smaller by the second. Replacing it was a dark, cold, purplish energy that felt like poison. A shiver went up his spine as he tried to push that energy away. _ 'Emerald, Emerald, where are you...? There are definitely high concentrations of energy close by, but... they seem to be shifting pretty rapidly. That's weird though, the monsters can't touch the Emerald, so it shouldn't be moving... Wait.' _ He opened up his eyes and peered over the ledge of the tree trunk they stood on, looking down at the ground. The Time Monsters seemed to be gathered around something, all of them converging on a single, yet quickly moving, point. "Well, I have some good news," Sonic said, giving a short laugh. "I think I know what happened to Big’s frog."

The others joined him in looking over the edge, perplexed by what he could have meant by that. “So, that thing they’re all following is…” Scourge narrowed his eyes.

“Froggy’s always had a taste for Chaos Emeralds,” Sonic shrugged simply. “At least this way we kill two birds with one stone.”

Zonic sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose in between his fingers. “So we grab the frog, and then what? Fight until the cows come home? Prime, there are so many of these guys I can barely see the ground.”

“Numbers have never stopped me before. I’ve taken out armies of robots, no problemo!”

“Yeah, but you weren’t hurt then, were you?”

“No, but that’s why there are  _ four _ of me here. We can handle this!” the older blue smiled, taking his friend’s shoulder and jostling it excitedly. “C’mon, let’s boogie!” Headstrong and reckless as ever, he dove off the edge of the tree trunk, falling towards the massive crowd of monsters and cheering energetically.

“Oh, for the love of--!” the Zone Cop smacked a hand to his forehead before following suit, pulling his spatial stabilizer off his wrist so he could run down the side of the tree easily.

"Alright! Time to bash some faces!" Scourge grinned, hopping down after them. Mini-Sonic followed wordlessly, trying to mentally psych up for the huge fight that was about to ensue. They fell for a few seconds, landing on the heads of some monsters as they came down. The beasts crumpled, grabbing the attention of some of the others. No time for fancy poses or witty one-liners, the four hedgehogs leaped into action, spindashing, punching, and kicking everything purple and goopy that came their way. 

"We gotta find that frog!" the older Sonic shouted over the noise of the fight, swinging his legs around in a circular motion to give himself some breathing room. The monsters were densely packed, and came at them from all sides. He was starting to regret jumping into the crowd head-first, but only slightly. He ducked and dodged through their punches, weaving through the crowd with relative ease. He took a deep breath in through his nose, trying to keep himself focused, but he got a whiff of monster. He never really noticed it before, but his younger self and Tails had been right-- these things  _ reeked. _ Just as he thought that, one of the creatures nicked him, its claw scraping his chest. The injury was in no way serious, but it traveled over his enlarged scar, making it sting something powerful. Sonic groaned, losing his footing. That one slip-up made him easy prey, and he was now misjudging all of the monsters' attacks and getting hurt pretty decently. He jumped high in the air to escape for a moment, before homing attacking several of the beasts in a row.  _ 'At least these things are still relatively easy to take down,' _ he thought. He looked around whenever he had a second to breathe, looking for Big's frog. Where could it have gone?

Suddenly, the skies opened up, unleashing a torrent of rain upon the forest. Through the crowd, Sonic thought he could make out a group of enormous frogs being restrained by the monsters, croaking with fear and anger. The frogs were a mixture of the green and black ones, which explained why the rain didn't seem to be affecting the plant life in the vicinity. The growing and killing rains they produced were cancelling each other out.

"Well, I think we found where all the frogs went!" Zonic said, sidekicking a monster in the chest. He wasn't having the easiest time fighting, as it had been a while since he'd had such powerful kicks. He was more used to throwing punches in close quarters, and had to constantly remind himself that his feet were a far more powerful weapon. He also didn't know how to spindash or use a homing attack, leaving him pretty much stuck on the muddy ground with no way to effectively fight in mid-air. He slowly knocked out monster after monster, steadily making his way through the crowd. He was getting tired though, and receiving his fair share of bruises. He was trying to avoid getting a cut, after seeing what had happened to Sonic, and was avoiding the monsters' claws as best as he could. He tried making his way to the group of frogs, thinking maybe Froggy would be there, but he was having a hard time making his way through the crowd.

Mini-Sonic and Scourge, on the other hand, were plowing through like nobody's business. The green hedgehog wasn't as rusty as he was when he fought on the roller coaster at Twinkle Park, and was spinning through monster after monster without looking back. The younger Sonic stuck to bouncing on their heads, which was easy since the crowd was so dense. He was pleasantly surprised at how little it took to defeat these creatures, as the ones he had faced at Metal Harbor were significantly harder. Plus, the crowd was so disorganized, they wouldn't be able to focus their time-manipulating abilities and work together to slow him down, something he was grateful for. He didn't quite enjoy the feeling that he was  _ killing _ these creatures, but since they were inherently evil and also attacking him, he didn't dwell on it too much.

He easily made his way across the huge crowd of monsters, reaching the group of frogs in the middle. "Hey there, fellas," he said as he approached them. He doubted his presence would make much of a difference to the huge frogs, which appeared to be moving backwards with the time stream. Watching them hop up and down in place was bizarre, as they didn't have to crouch and wind up before they were in mid-air. Shaking his head and ignoring the "dumb frog physics" as Scourge had coined them, he crouched down low to the ground and looked for a significantly smaller frog with a Chaos Emerald in it's belly. "Here, Froggy Froggy Froggy... Where are you?" he called, attacking the occasional monster as he looked. Spotting movement between the legs of a couple of the black frogs, the hedgehog got on his stomach to see better. Indeed, there was a small frog hopping through the legs of the larger frogs. "There you are!" Sonic smiled, crawling and reaching for the mischievous amphibian, trying not to get squashed by the larger fauna. "Note to self: never get a pet frog," he grunted, wriggling about on his hands and knees trying to catch up to the frog. He finally got a hold of Froggy, the slippery animal almost escaping through his fingers. "Oh no you don't," he said, keeping a firm grip and getting to his feet. He immediately felt his heart race, his blood pumping as he held the frog close to his chest. There was a Chaos Emerald inside of him alright, odd though it was. The sixth one-- they were almost there. They just had to defeat the army of bloodthirsty, time-ripping monsters. "Hey guys, I found Froggy!" the small hedgehog exclaimed, holding the small frog above his head in triumph. In addition to catching the attention of his friends, he also grabbed the attention of all of the other monsters in the vicinity that weren't currently fighting them. "Oh crap," he breathed. This just got a  _ lot _ harder.

Scourge smiled.  _ 'Awesome, got the Emerald. Now I can fight without worrying about stepping on the damn frog,' _ he thought excitedly, going all out. He swung his legs around with ease, gaining momentum and taking out monster after monster. He cleared the area immediately surrounding him and moved on to the others, just enjoying the fight at this point.

Zonic, on the other hand, was experiencing some difficulties. There were just too many time monsters for him to handle, and the teenager found himself surrounded by them in no time. As a last-ditch effort, he pulled his laser pistol out of the holster on his belt and took aim at the oncoming horde. He fired a shot at the closest monster, but the recoil was a lot more than he was expecting. The laser blast ended up firing way off target, and the gun nearly flew out of his hand. “Whoa!” he gasped, struggling to keep a hold on his usually-trusty weapon. “Tch… So much for plan B,” he said, shoving the pistol back into the holster angrily. The monster that he had tried to shoot at was close enough now to reach out and grab him. The hedgehog sidestepped the attack easily enough, but he had nowhere to go. The monsters were closing in, all of them grabbing for his arms and legs. “Uh, guys?! A little help here!” he shouted, doing his best to shove the monsters away.

The two Sonics looked over in his direction to see him being completely swarmed by monsters. They themselves both had their hands full, with the younger Sonic being chased for the Emerald he was carrying and the older being decently surrounded himself. Scourge was the only one having an easy time, and he seemed too absorbed in his own fight to see what was going on around him.

“Scourge!” the elder Sonic shouted, tornado-kicking another creature away. “Give Z a hand!”

“Hm? What’s that?” the green hedgehog yelled back, standing atop a monster’s head with a smirk on his face. “Can’t hear you over all the ass I’m kickin’!”

"Wha--? Oh, you little... Hang in there, Z!" Sonic grunted, spindashing through the crowd of seemingly never-ending monsters to reach his No Zone self. Zonic was being shoved to the ground, at least one or two of the Mobian-sized monsters latched onto each of his limbs, and several more climbing onto his back. Sonic homing attacked at the ones that were grabbing his arms and legs, freeing Zonic and letting the Zone Cop knock the others off of him. They ended up standing back-to-back, with just as many monsters surrounding them as before. "Okay, not my best plan, I'll admit," Sonic said, his fists raised and at the ready.

"Y'think?" Zonic deadpanned, sending him an annoyed glare.

Meanwhile, the younger Sonic was still using the time monsters' craniums as springboards, keeping an eye on the action and giving himself a short breather. He was curled up and about to land on another beast when Scourge kicked it out from under him. The smaller hedgehog landed on the forest floor with an  _ oof, _ while Scourge continued beating up the surrounding monsters with a dark grin on his face.

"Wow, clumsy much?" the green one scoffed, homing attacking an entire lineup of monsters. Mini-Sonic fumed, but said nothing. He'd give Scourge an earful later, when they made it out of the forest.  _ If _ they made it out of the forest. They had been fighting for what felt like forever, but they had barely put a dent in the monsters' numbers. There were just too many of them. Zonic and his older self were completely surrounded, and having trouble even winding up attacks in the limited space they were given. The kid jumped to his feet and raced over to his two trapped friends as fast as he could, making sure to keep a tight hold on Froggy.

_ ‘Wait a minute-- Froggy... That might just work,' _ he thought, changing directions slightly and heading for Scourge instead. He grabbed the Moebian's arm and pulled, knocking him off balance as he got dragged along.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" he shouted angrily, too shocked to try and break free of the twelve-year-old's grip. Sonic ignored him, and raced over to the others. He jumped down on two monsters at once, forcing them to the ground, before pulling Scourge to his feet and standing right by his older self and Zonic.

"I sure hope this works..." he muttered, holding Froggy in both hands. "Everyone, hold on tight! Ch-Chaos Control!” the youngest hedgehog shouted, holding Froggy tight to his chest and clenching his eyes shut tight. He felt the energy surrounding him suddenly twist and warp into something entirely different. The noises of the forest instantly vanished, replaced by the relative quiet of a field, high above the ocean. He cracked an eye open. To his surprise, they weren't in Frog Forest any more. They had all transported back to the Mystic Ruins. He'd just used Chaos Control.

He dropped Froggy out of surprise and fright, taking a quick step back from the group and breathed heavy. All eyes were on him (even as Zonic zipped to recapture the runaway frog). "Wh-what the..." Mini-Sonic breathed, his dark eyes looking panicked. "How did I do that? I didn’t expect that to work at all, I shouldn't have been able to do that!' He turned to his older-self, hoping the injured speedster might have an answer for him. He could only shake his head.

"I wish I knew... I mean, it's great that you got us all out of there, but... this shouldn't be happening," he said, struggling to find the right words. His mouth had run dry. _ 'My twelve-year-old self just used Chaos Control. Something I didn't learn until I was almost fifteen,'  _ he thought.  _ 'He's doing it again. Doing things he shouldn't be physically able to do yet. How...?' _

"I'm just glad you tried that trick when you did," Zonic said, holding Froggy in both hands to ensure he wouldn't get away again. "I would have been toast if you hadn't gotten me out of there. Thanks, kid."

"He wouldn't have had to try anything if Scourge had just helped you out," the older Sonic said, his teeth clenched. He knew he'd been defending his choice to bring Scourge along earlier, but watching the green one fight with only himself in mind had ticked him off.

"What?!" the Moebian yelled, tensing up and clenching his hands into fists. "I _ was _ helping! Getting myself stuck in the middle with him would have screwed both of us over! And besides, I killed more monsters than the rest of you combined! You're all a bunch of weaklings as far as I'm concerned!"

“At least we know how to fight as a team! We have each other’s backs!” Sonic growled. “You only fight for yourself! You don’t care about anyone else here!”

“It’s not like I came here to make friends,” the green one scoffed. "You wanted someone to help you beat up monsters and get Emeralds. That's exactly what I'm doing! Excuse me for my help not being up to your standards!"

"I didn't have to pull you out of Zone Jail, you know!" Sonic shouted, feeling his anger rise up inside him. "I didn't have to give you  _ another _ chance to prove you can change! I got you out because I  _ felt bad for you _ , so don't go calling me a weakling!"

"Why, you sonova--" Scourge growled low in his throat, his quills bristling. Without warning, he tackled Sonic to the ground, vanishing within the tall grass.

"Woah!" the younger Sonic and Zonic gasped, taking a reactionary step back from the fight. The two older hedgehogs wrestled on the floor, shouting insults and obscenities at each other as they rolled around in a blur of punches, tackles, and kicks. The two bystanders quickly moved to break up the fight, separating the two adults.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Zonic yelled at them, pushing Scourge away as the younger Sonic held his older self back. The two brawlers were breathing heavily, but aside from a few scrapes and a bruise or two, both came out of the fight relatively unharmed.

"What have you done to help us since we brought you along?" Sonic shouted at his bad twin, fighting against the smaller version of himself holding him back. "Zonic was the one who got the Emerald in Twinkle Park, you didn't bother helping any of us in that fight just now when you  _ easily could have _ \-- maybe I should just bring you back to Zone Jail!"

" _ You _ bring  _ me _ back? Mister I-can-barely-run-for-ten-minutes-without-collapsing?" Scourge spat. "I'm sick of you! I'm sick of all of you, thinking that you can boss me around all you want, waving the 'we got you out of prison' card over my head all day long! Well you know what?" Moving quicker than any of them could follow, the green hedgehog yanked the inhibitor collar off the back of Zonic's belt and snapped it around the older Sonic's neck. "You keep using this damn thing on me, let's see how you like it!" And with that, he sped off, the sonic boom that he left causing the tall grass to rustle violently.

“Scourge!” Sonic shouted, clawing at the device around his neck. “Get back here, dammit!” he breathed heavily. The golden collar was sucking everything out of him. His legs felt weak, and his head began to swim. He couldn’t feel the presence of the Emeralds, not a single one of them. It was as if all the Chaos Energy in the air had suddenly vanished. He clutched his head in his hands and groaned before slumping over, his younger self luckily catching him before he hit the ground. “Zonic… Get this thing off’a me, will you?” he said weakly, his words slurred. “This is… more intense than I expected.”

“Scourge took the key,” the Zone Cop said angrily, finding the small remote that accompanied the collar to be missing. “And I don’t know if I can keep up after him if I chase him. I’m still exhausted from that fight…”

“Don’t worry about it,” the older Sonic said, taking a seat on the ground. He massaged his legs, which sort of felt like a giant mosquito had just come and sucked everything out of them. This inhibitor collar was really messing with him, big time. Was this how Scourge felt for the whole year he was in Zone Jail? No wonder he wasn’t able to fight back against the jerks in that place. Sonic was impressed that he had been able to stand at all.

“Forget about him,” the young Sonic said, having no problem with Scourge leaving them. “Tails and Tails can find a way to get that thing off you, easy.”

“Erm… actually,” Zonic said, struggling to keep a hold of the squirming amphibian in his hands, “the collar needs to be deactivated by that remote. If it’s deactivated in any other way, it’ll electrocute whoever’s wearing it. As as security precaution.”

“A better security precaution would be  _ not letting Scourge get his hands on it,”  _ Little Sonic grunted, feeling frustrated. He glared down at his older self. "Why the hell did you try and fight him instead of just dodging his attacks, anyway? You know you're not back up to speed yet," his younger incarnation said, taking a stern tone with him.

"First of all, I'm ignoring that pun," Sonic said tiredly. "Second... I don't think I've quite been myself lately, in more ways than one." He looked down at the ground unhappily. "I've been getting angry when I shouldn't be... Not that Scourge being a jerk and only caring about himself isn't something to get angry about, but I took it too far," he said, taking a deep breath. He was having moodswings, especially where the green one was concerned. Why was he losing control of himself?

“Regardless,” Zonic huffed, “someone’s gotta go after him and get that key back.”

“I’ll do it,” the younger Sonic nodded, pounding his fist into his open hand. “I wanna show him what Sonic the Hedgehog can do.”

“No,” his older self said, slowly getting to his feet. “I’ll get him back. I need to talk to him.”

“And what makes you think you can catch up to him?” the kid asked, tapping his foot. “He’s probably the fastest out of all of us, at least right now anyway.”

“I know. Just… trust me on this one, okay?” Sonic said, putting a hand on his shoulder and smiling a little. He blinked. His head was still spinning from the collar’s effects, but he was starting to get used to it. “I have a hunch that he didn’t go far. Let me try and find him. You guys get that Chaos Emerald out of Froggy, and get the little dude back to Big, alright?” He jogged off in the direction Scourge went, painfully aware of how slow he was. The two younger hogs he left behind frowned.

“Why do we get stuck with the frog?” Zonic asked, holding the wriggling amphibian out in front of him. Sonic only shrugged. Froggy croaked.

“I dunno,” Mini-Sonic huffed. “Let’s just get that Chaos Emerald out of him, and pray that older-me doesn’t get the living daylights beaten out of him.” He led the Zone Cop back in the direction of the workshop, hoping his future-self would be okay.


	21. Doomsday

Sonic trudged through the tall grass, something he normally loved running through. He loved the way the wind made it ripple, how it had that peaceful ocean-like look to it without actually being wet. Right now though, he hated the grass, getting tangled around his slow-moving feet and just serving as one more obstacle that acted against him. He  _ hated _ this stupid collar, hated how slow he felt, hated how he couldn’t feel any of the Chaos energy in the air with this thing on. In all honesty, he had never noticed how in tune with Chaos he actually was. He’d been sensing the energies in the air all his life, without even realizing it. Now that that connection was gone, he felt almost blind, like a huge chunk of him was missing. He wouldn’t be surprised if he got lost in the Mystic Ruins, since the energetic landmarks he usually used to guide his way were now lost to him.

“Scourge!” he called out, cupping his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice. “Come on, man, I need to talk to you!” Looking around for any trace of the hedgehog, Sonic grimaced. Maybe his hunch was wrong, and Scourge really did take off for good. He could be all the way at Red Mountain by now, all the way on the opposite end of the ruins. He sighed. He hadn’t realized how good of a sport Scourge had been the day before when he agreed to put the collar on and spend some quality time with Lil’ T. Maybe he’d been too rough on the guy? Granted, he had every reason to be harsh, but perhaps threatening to send the Moebian back to prison was overkill. It was no secret that Scourge had been having nightmares, and the way he reacted around Big earlier… it was clear that the green one did  _ not  _ want to go back to that place.

_ ‘He only fights for himself, though. He’s no team player. He’s selfish, and arrogant, and ungrateful… ‘ _ Sonic looked around, not seeing Scourge anywhere. Even if he  _ did _ find him, what would he say? Did he even want Scourge to come back? His past self had been right, Scourge was the strongest of any of them, but the guy was… well, to be frank, an asshole. How many second chances did one person deserve, anyway? Maybe he should just--

“You think you’re so high and mighty. Doncha, Blue?” Speak of the devil. Sonic’s eyes shot up into a nearby tree, seeing the green hedgehog he was searching for sitting amongst its branches. He was playing with the collar remote in his hand, inspecting the thin device. “Ya felt bad for me, so ya got me outta jail. Then, when I’m not the eternally greatful, simply misunderstood sap you expected me to be, you flip on me and say that everything that’s goin’ wrong is my fault. Yeah, you and your gang are a real buncha angels.”

Sonic frowned as he approached the tree. “Scourge, it’s not like that, and you know it,” he said, frustration in his voice.

“Oh, so then what IS going on here?” his anti-self glared down at him. “Because I sure as hell don’t know. One minute you’re sayin’ we all need to trust each other, and the next you’re breathin’ down my neck ‘cause I’m a potential threat, or ‘cause I don’t play well with others. So  _ please _ , if you’d be so kind as to tell me what the  _ fuck _ is goin’ on in that head a’ yours, I’d really appreciate it.”

“I…” Sonic started, but realized he didn’t have a counter-argument. He sighed. “You’re right. I haven’t been terribly consistent lately. As soon as I think I’ve got something figured out, something new comes into play. My temper hasn’t exactly been under control lately either…” He looked down at the base of the tree, scratching the back of his neck. His fingers collided with the metal of the collar, reminding him once again of its presence.

“What, so your temper gets an excuse while mine gets me threatened?” Scourge yelled, giving Sonic a look that could kill. “ _ Chaos,  _ you are such a freakin’  _ hypocrite--” _

“Would you let me finish? I was  _ gonna _ say that it wasn’t an excuse for me being such a jerk to you. I knew what I was potentially getting myself into when Zonic and I got you out of Zone Jail. I shouldn’t be getting mad at you because you’re not a team player, since I knew that already going in. So… Sorry. You’re right, I have been acting… well,  _ holier than thou _ , and I shouldn’t have threatened to send you back to Zone Jail like that. That was pretty low.”

“Tch… Got that right,” Scourge grunted under his breath. He crossed his arms, but his frown relaxed a bit. He hadn’t expected Sonic to be the one to come chasing after him, and he  _ certainly _ hadn’t been expecting an apology.

Sonic rubbed at his neck, the inhibitor collar clearly taking its toll on him. “And we shouldn’t have kept using this collar against you, either. You’re a part of the team now, and we were barely acting like it. I mean, how can I expect you to trust me and everyone else when… when we’re not even willing to trust you?”

Scourge’s eyes shot open. “W-wait, so you’re not mad about that?” he sputtered. “I tackled you, snapped that damn collar on you, ran off, and you’re not mad?!”

“Well, I’m not happy about it, but I’m willing to let it slide,” the hero smirked tiredly. “And to be fair, you didn’t run all  _ that _ far. Thanks for waiting up for me, by the way.” Sonic sat down at the base of the tree, resting in the soft grass. The sun was starting to dip in the sky, an indicator of just how long they had been in Frog Forest. It had been a long day, and they were all tired, a little on-edge. He took a deep breath, finding that the circlet around his throat was even making  _ that _ more difficult. He wormed a finger in between his neck and the collar, tugging at it. “...I never realized how tough this thing is on ya. I thought it just made you slower, and not as strong, but… I feel drained, or like a chunk of me is missing. I can’t believe you lived with this thing for a whole year.”

Scourge’s eyes drooped tiredly. “Neither can I, sometimes,” he said quietly. He shivered as his dream from the night before snaked its way into his mind. Zone Jail, Smalls…  _ ‘No,’ _ he stopped himself.  _ ‘Don’t go down that road.’ _

Sighing, Sonic glanced upward, looking through the leaves of the tree to the sky above. “You know what I think?” he said. “I think being evil for most of your life, then trying to turn it all around and save people instead… it’s gotta come with a pretty steep learning curve, right?” He paused. Scourge’s ear twitched as the green hedgehog looked away. “Yeah, you should have had Z’s back out there, but you’re still new at this. The whole reason I called you in was to help fight, and you  _ did _ do the most fighting out of anyone out there. But if we fight together, it can all work more smoothly. We can kick more butt as a team than we can as… a group of people all fighting in the same vicinity.”

“Wow,” Scourge rolled his eyes, glancing down at his good twin. “Endin’ that  _ inspiring  _ speech on a high note,” he groaned.

“Eh, they can’t all be winners,” the blue one chuckled. “Look… as much as we dislike each other, we’re almost done. We only have one Emerald left to find, and then we can fix this whole mess. So just stick around a little while longer?”

“Yeah, yeah.” The Moebian jumped down from his seat on the tree branch and stretched his arms. “What, you thought I was gonna leave for real? I’ve seen you guys fight, you’re all wimps. Leaving this world-saving biz up to you would doom us all,” he snickered. Sonic got to his feet.

“So… truce?” the blue speedster asked, offering his hand to shake. Scourge raised an eyebrow and looked down at his outstretched hand. Instead of shaking hands, he pressed the button on the thin remote he held and gave the device to Sonic.

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he said, smirking as he began to walk back to the house. Sonic yanked the collar off his neck and took a deep breath, feeling everything come back to him. “You should have seen your face when I snapped that collar on you,” the green one laughed. “ _ Comedy gold. _ ”

“Shut up,” Sonic shoved him, feeling more relaxed already. “Come on, I bet the guys are all waiting for us.”

“About time. Lead the way, Blue,” the Moebian said. Sonic eagerly took off, happy he could run again, while Scourge followed close behind.  _ ‘Almost done here… Just one Emerald left. But then what?’ _ he thought, struggling to figure out a plan. He hadn’t really thought past the whole ‘saving the world’ bit. He didn’t think he’d get this far into it, to be honest. He was planning on crossing that bridge when he came to it, but that bridge was starting to get closer. What was he going to do?

The two approached the workshop just as Big exited the front door, tailless Froggy in hand. Scourge hung back a few feet while the feline thanked Sonic repeatedly for finding his friend, who was resting lazily in the cat’s massive hands. After a hurried goodbye, Big and Froggy left to head into the deep jungles of the Mystic Ruins (“We have a whole day of fishing to catch up on!”). Scourge ducked inside the house, and Sonic followed after one more wave to Big.

The two younger hedgehogs and foxes were sprawled out on the various pieces of living room furniture, apparently exhausted.

“Before you ask,” the older Tails said, noticing Sonic and Scourge come in, “Froggy put up a fight. Lil’ guy sure does love eating those Chaos Emeralds.”

The younger Sonic groaned from the couch. He was sitting upside-down, his feet up against the back of the sofa and his head hanging down. “I swear, the thing can tap into the Emeralds. He was zooming around so fast,  _ we _ had trouble catching him.” He looked up, noticing happily that his older-self was no longer wearing the inhibitor collar. He frowned at Scourge, though. “So, I take it Green is going back home to wherever he came from?”

Scourge glared at him, somewhat baffled that this hedgehog was the same one he was just having a conversation with a few minutes earlier. “Unfortunately for you, I’m staying,” he said. The expression on the small hedgehog’s face almost made him laugh. Lil’ T, on the other hand, seemed excited by this.

“Alright! Does that mean I get to beat you at video games some more?” he asked as he sat up, stars in his eyes. Everyone else but Scourge laughed. The green hedgehog merely rolled his eyes and turned to go upstairs, away from everyone else.

“Wait a sec, Scourge,” the older Tails said, stopping him in his tracks. “I, uh, looked into Time Energy while you were all away, and… I think everyone should hear what I found out.”

The room got suddenly quiet as everyone turned to look at the fox. The way he was talking sounded like he had bad news. Sonic lowered himself into one of the living room’s chairs as Scourge leaned up against the wall. Taking that as his cue to start, Tails picked his Miles Electric up off the coffee table and quickly skimmed the data being displayed on the screen. He puffed his bangs out of his face and double-checked his numbers. He clicked his tongue. The silence and tension in the room were palpable as the others sat around, waiting for him to say something. After what felt like an eternity, the fox cleared his throat. "Okay," he said, "after analyzing both the goo left behind from the time monsters  _ and _ a sample of Sonic's contaminated blood, I  _ think _ I can put together a cohesive theory as to what's going on with you guys exactly. Why Sonic’s got that weird growing scar, and why Zonic’s several years younger all of a sudden."

"You  _ think?" _ Zonic asked incredulously.

"Hey, this isn't exactly rocket science! If it was, I'd have an easier time with it," Tails said frustratedly. He rubbed his eyes, which were looking tired. It seemed like he had been hard at work all day.

"So, what do you think happened?" Mini-Sonic asked, his elbows resting on his knees and his toes tapping furiously. 

"Alright. The monster that left Sonic with that nasty gash infected him with time energy. Normally not a problem, that stuff tends to go away pretty fast from what I’ve seen. But since Sonic used Chaos Control right after, it got sealed inside of him, almost fusing with him. The energy I think... it didn’t just latch onto Sonic, it latched onto his entire timeline."

"Sounds like Sonic's younger self should have been affected by this more than I was," Zonic said. “Where do I fit into all this?”

"I'm just getting to that," Tails said, staring down at the Miles Electric screen like his life depended on it. "The time and Chaos energy  _ should _ have stayed confined just to  _ this _ Sonic's timeline. But when he traveled to the No Zone to visit you, the energy recognized you as a Sonic from an alternate timeline. After all, that's all that different dimensions are, really- alternate timelines, all branching off each other."

"So, because I went to No Zone..." Sonic said, trying to understand, "the weird energy inside me attached itself onto Zonic, too? Is that what you're saying?"

"Precisely," the two-tail nodded. "And this is just a guess, but it could have spread even further. Zonic's world intersects every other Zone in existence. It's unlikely, but it’s possible that the energy used that connection to worm its way into tons of other Sonics across the multiverse. Sonics everywhere, being infected with the time energy, even when the Time Eater and its goons haven't even reached their worlds yet..."

The room was dead quiet. It was troubling to imagine. Different versions of Sonic in all manner of alternate timelines... All of them potentially suffering from the side effects of having time energy in one's body. Not only aging or de-aging, like Zonic had, but perhaps being sped up or slowed down. Maybe being frozen in time. Maybe they were going in reverse, like someone just hit rewind on them. Would any of them even know what was going on? Would they have the slightest clue?

"Well," Scourge clapped his hands, "that is certainly one hell of a bomb you dropped there. But why ain't any of that time energy affecting me? Or what about little Sonic?"

"With Sonic's younger self... I honestly have no idea what could happen. He might get affected by the energy later, or he might not because his older self is already chock full of the stuff. There's no way for me to be sure. Sorry, Sonic," Tails said dimly, looking up from his device to the young hedgehog sitting across from him.

"Hey, don't worry about it," the light blue hog said with a half-shrug. "No news is good news, right?"

"I guess so, in this case at least," the fox tilted his head to the side in contemplative thought. "Anyway, Scourge, the reason why none of this mess is affecting you is because the energy doesn't recognize you as Sonic. Since you mutated with the Master Emerald, you're genetically different from Sonic, and the energy is having a tough time figuring out what you are and what it should do. At least, I think it so. This is all just speculation, remember. All theory."

"I just hope you're right about me," Scourge said, crossing his arms behind his head. "The last thing I need to deal with right now is turnin' into a little kid." He shrugged.  _ 'What with the bad nightmares, the hallucinations... I don't think I need any more on my plate right now,' _ he thought, his stomach gently beginning to twist into knots.

Sonic held a hand over his chest, gingerly touching his enlarged scar. "So if I hadn't gotten that hit... if I hadn't gone to No Zone... I put all the other Zones at risk, didn't I?" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "At the very least, it's my fault Z's like this."

"It's thanks to you I can run again," Zonic said firmly, gripping the older hedgehog's shoulder as his head drooped. "Right now, I don't care about being younger. I'll deal. You can't blame yourself for this Sonic, you had no way of knowing that any of this would happen."

"It doesn't matter that I didn't know. I still brought this mess to No Zone, and probably all the other Zones too, with my luck lately." He brushed Zonic's hand off of his shoulder. "Tails, just tell me there's a way to fix all this. That we can save everyone before it's too late."

"Actually," the fox said optimistically, "that part should be pretty straightforward. Defeating the Time Eater for good should clear all the time energy out of your system, and by extension, clean it out of all the other Sonics too. Maybe even just getting it out of your body will be enough to get it out of everyone, even if the TE is still alive." He smiled. "And besides, we don't know for sure if this energy is traveling between your alter-selves. It was just a guess."

Zonic nodded. "Zector and Zespio would let me know if anything weird was going on with the other Sonics. I'm sure all our dimensional counterparts are fine, Prime. You need to calm down, ‘kay?"

"Well, I can't! I've been trying to stay calm, and to relax, and to stay positive like I always do," Sonic clenched his teeth. His fingers were wrapped tight around his knees, his muscles tense. "But it's  _ hard. _ And I don't know if it's all the time and Chaos energy pent up inside me that's whacking me out, or if it's because I'm not running right, or because I'm hurt, or that Mobius is seriously in danger, or because I'm apparently the entire reason you got younger in the first place. But I  _ can't calm down, Zonic. _ So stop telling me that I need to relax and take a chill pill, because I seriously just  _ can't _ right now." Sonic shoved himself out of the chair and walked straight out the back door. A sonic boom was heard a few seconds later as the poisoned hedgehog took off towards who knows where.

"I... I didn't think he'd react this badly," Tails said softly after a minute of quiet left in the angry speedster's wake. "It's just a theory... There's no way to know for sure..."

Mini-Sonic shook his head. "It's also the  _ only _ explanation we have for anything right now. I don't handle guilt well, Tails, you know that," the twelve-year-old said, looking out the window to where his future-self ran off to. "Sonic needs time to think. He just needs to sort everything out in his head, compartmentalize it all... Let off some steam. He'll be okay."

"You sure?" the fox asked, twin tails twitching anxiously. "I hate to see him like this."

"Everything will be okay," the smaller Sonic answered. "I'll be okay... I have to be." He gulped. It sounded like he was saying that more for his benefit than for anyone else's.

ooo

Sonic returned to the workshop later that night, but refused to talk to anyone. He made his way up to the roof without a word, and didn’t come back inside for the rest of the evening. Both Tailses wanted to reach out and comfort him, until mini-Sonic told them there wasn’t anything they could do to help right now. “I’m surprised he came back so soon, actually,” the twelve-year-old said softly. “I thought he would have stayed out all night. But I can tell you one thing for sure, he doesn’t want to talk right now.” The subject was dropped after that.

After the meeting earlier, the members of the team were quiet and severely on edge. Zonic had been furiously scanning news feeds from other Zones, checking for temporal anomalies. He only stopped once Tails suggested he get some fresh air, and so he went outside to practice with his gun. His lack of progress only served to further fry his nerves.

The younger Sonic went for a run, following in his older-self’s footsteps. Wherever he went, he came back with enough take-out for everyone, which was much needed since the cupboards were bare at that point. Even though everyone barely touched their food, it was better than nothing.

Scourge sat cross-legged on the couch, his foot bouncing vigorously as he watched the news with the volume turned all the way down. So much of Mobius was already under the negative influence of the Time Eater’s power, he didn’t want to believe it. He had tried to conquer the planet before, sure, but he hadn’t intended to practically destroy it. After a few hours of this, Lil’ T joined him on the couch, picking up the remote and changing the channel to some old black and white detective movie. The two brightened the mood up a little by making up new dialogue for the characters on-screen, but that was short-lived, as Mini-Sonic declared it was time for the kid to go to bed.

In fact, it wasn’t long before everyone except for the teenage Tails decided to call it a night. The fox had resigned himself to his lab to continue the search for the last Emerald. When all the others were starting to wind down, he began to caffeinate. It was clear he didn’t plan on sleeping that night. Scourge wondered for a moment whether or not he should join the kid in staying up, but decided against it. If they found the last Emerald tomorrow, that would be it-- the big day. He should at least try and be well-rested for it, right? So the green hedgehog trudged up the stairs, found the top bunk in Tails’ room to be empty, and climbed into the bed, quickly dropping off to sleep.

For what felt like the upteenth time, Scourge found himself once again in the long, ominous hallway. Doors were everywhere. The entire hallway was lined with them. They were on the ceiling and on the floor. Some started halfway up the wall and ended on the ceiling, following the corners of the hall. Some overlapped each other. There were too many doors. “Shit,” Scourge breathed. This was already terrible. Just one door the last time led to the worst nightmare he’d had so far. Now the doors were everywhere, completely surrounding him. Something could jump out and grab him at any second, from any angle.

To add to the freakiness factor, the hedgehog wasn’t in his normal leather jacket and sunglasses getup. He found himself in a roughed-up orange jumpsuit with an inhibitor collar around his neck. “Okay, completely vulnerable and powerless. With potential danger literally everywhere. What could go wrong now?” he said. He had meant for the words to come out loud and annoyed-sounding, but his voice was quiet and weak. He shuddered and glanced around nervously. He supposed he should start walking like he always did, but he felt frozen to the spot. As if thousands of pairs of eyes were staring at him, keeping him in one place. A bead of sweat dripped down the back of his neck, while all his quills stood on end. The hallway was entirely silent, except for a quiet, rhythmic murmur. Scourge couldn’t make it out at first, but it steadily grew louder.

_ “Sonic… Sonic… Sonic…” _ It was the voice calling his name again. His old name, the one that the mirrors in Twinkle Park had called him, and the one that he heard a lot in this place. Scourge looked into the distance, but he couldn’t see the unknown figure with the bleeding forehead that usually accompanied the voice. And the voice was so  _ familiar _ , but he just couldn’t peg it down… Who was calling his name? Where were they?

Scourge turned around, thinking the figure might be in the distance behind him. As he turned, he came directly face to face with a man. A blue hedgehog, with brown bangs and a bleeding bullet hole in his forehead. He had soulless white eyes, and his cold breath smelled of decay. He was wearing a guard’s uniform from Zone Jail, which was unusual for him, but Scourge recognized him anyway.

Before he could fully grasp what was happening, the dead hedgehog screamed, blood bursting from its skull, and Scourge was catapulted into awakeness. He let out a short yell, and was breathing hard. He was shaking violently and covered in cold sweat. He couldn’t think. He could barely breathe. That thing was going to get him. Where was he? He didn’t feel safe. It was there, in the corner, in the darkness, he knew it. He could feel it. It was going to--

He took a few deep breaths, albeit shaky ones, to try and calm himself. He wasn’t dreaming anymore. He was awake, he was safe. He wasn’t in that  _ damned hallway, _ he was in Sonic’s house. He was at the workshop. He was safe. He sniffled and held his head in his shivering hands.  _ ‘Dad,’ _ he thought, his eyes bulging wide.  _ ‘It was my dad. What the hell-- why was my dad there. Was that him the whole time? What is going on-- why was my dad there?’ _ The thoughts raced frantically through his mind. This was bad. His nightmares had been getting progressively worse. How much worse could they get? That one only seemed to last a few minutes and he was a quivering wreck. He was  _ scared _ , and Scourge the Hedgehog was not one to scare easily.  _ ‘My dad my dad my old man my dad dad dad why was he there dad what was he doing? Why was he wearing a prison guard uniform why was he there dad dad dad dad dad.’ _

After a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to think relatively straight. His breathing was less erratic and heavy, but still shaky. He pulled his blankets up around him in hopes that it would stop his shivering.  _ ‘What’s happening to me…?’ _ he thought nervously.  _ ‘Why do I keep having these dreams every night? Why do they keep getting worse?!’ _ He gripped the sheets tight, his knuckles turning as pale as his face. He found himself wondering how long he could feasibly stay awake for. If he could just stop sleeping entirely... No sleep means no nightmares, right? Who cares he’d be less effective in a fight, if he could go one night without a nightmare he’d sell a kidney.

He warily glanced down from the top bunk to catch a glimpse of the alarm clock below. The clock sat on the nightstand at the head of the bottom bunk. It glowed 1:19 AM in bright blue. Scourge frowned and slipped back under the covers. Staying up would mean staying awake for hours, alone, in the dark, with nothing but his thoughts to keep him company. Honestly, now that he thought about it, neither option seemed preferable.

_ ‘Maybe I’ll just grab a glass of water,’ _ he thought, still feeling uneasy.  _ ‘I still need to calm down some more.’  _ He climbed down from the top bunk of the bed, trying to be quiet, as the younger hedgehog and fox duo were sharing the bed beneath him. He didn’t want to answer any questions right now about why he was up. He just wanted to deal with this on his own, thank you very much. Scourge slipped silently out of the room, thankful to be in the hallway where the lights were dimly lit. He hated admitting it, but the darkness of the bedroom had freaked him out a bit. He didn’t want to be seeing things any more than usual. He treaded down the steps leading to the living room, again trying to be quiet to avoid waking Zonic, who was on the pull-out couch.

_ ‘Zonic and Sonic… both of them are starting to crack, but they have  _ reasons  _ for it. The time stream is messing with them big time, which is enough to unnerve anyone. I’m just losing it for no reason,’ _ the green hedgehog thought, his eyes momentarily resting on the teenager on the couch before he ducked into the kitchen. He pulled a glass from the cabinet above the sink and filled it with tap water. His hands were shaking, and the water threatened to spill from the cup. Scourge held the glass tight with both hands and leaned on the counter.  _ ‘This is ridiculous. There’s not even an explanation for  _ why  _ I’m having these nightmares. One night it’s about Zone Jail, tonight was my dad… This isn’t making any sense.’ _ He took a long drink from the glass, polishing off half of the water in one gulp. He hadn’t realized how dry his mouth was. He set the glass down and rubbed his hands over his bare arms, feeling the goosebumps that he was covered in. He couldn’t believe this. Scourge the Hedgehog, former King of Moebius, the mean and green hedgehog who wasn’t afraid of anything, reduced to a shaking mess after a few bad dreams. He didn’t get it. He was just fine before his birthday. That was when the nightmares started to happen every night, and they started getting worse and worse. What had happened, what was causing him to have these bad dreams?

He looked at the clock on the wall. It wasn’t even 1:30 yet. There was no way he was going to be able to stay up all night. He’d been getting too little sleep lately, and had already spent most of the day before with bags under his eyes. He wasn’t going to be able to avoid the nightmares forever, he knew that. But it didn’t mean he couldn’t try and stay up a little while longer, at least until he had calmed down.

He took to looking at the pictures that adorned the walls of the workshop’s modest kitchen. Some of the photos were framed, some were not, but all of them were of Sonic, Tails, or their friends. Quite a few of them were from when the fox and hedgehog were still young, just starting out. Scourge’s mind drifted to the two time travelers upstairs, sharing a bed like it was the easiest thing in the world. Back on his own world, he had taken in Miles, the anti-Tails, in as sort of his evil apprentice. The two worked together on tons of jobs, but they were never even remotely close. Miles had actually tried to kill Scourge a few times, when it was beneficial to him. But Sonic and Tails were inseparable, even eight years ago. They weren’t related by blood, but they acted so much like family. The green hedgehog began to feel something rise up in his chest. Jealousy? Of Sonic? He shook his head and shoved the feeling back down. He looked down from the photographs, deciding to study the countertops instead.

_ ‘Isn’t that what those reflections in Twinkle Park were saying, though?’ _ he thought, the shakiness in his hands returning as the memory resurfaced.  _ ‘That I was jealous of Sonic, deep down…?’ _ He exhaled sharply. It had only been a few days since he’d been busted out of Zone Jail, and he already didn’t know who he even was anymore. Was he bad? Good? Scared and jealous? Strong and selfish? Just as when he was in Zone Jail, he felt like he was at war with himself, only now he didn’t even know which side was which.

He suddenly heard a sharp gasp come from the living room, followed by a shallow panting and blankets rustling. Zonic had just woken up, and suddenly. Had the No Zoner had a bad dream as well?

Scourge downed the rest of his glass of water and placed the glass in the sink quietly, listening for Zonic going back to sleep. He didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, he wanted to be alone. He never got any alone time in the workshop, something that was new to him. People always asking him if he was okay, if there was anything wrong… It was none of their business! He was sick of people caring and trying to stick their noses in his problems. He could handle this by himself.

Unfortunately for Scourge, Zonic did not slip back into the hold of sleep. He instead rose from the couch and shuffled his way into the kitchen, where the green hedgehog was standing over the sink, fists clenched. “Oh, Chaos!” the teenager jumped upon seeing him. “Jeez, you scared me. I didn’t think anyone else would be down here…” Zonic said, his voice low as to not wake the others upstairs. Scourge merely grunted in response, scratching his short, choppy quills. Seeing that Scourge wasn’t going to continue the conversation, Zonic tried again to get a response out of him (partly because he wanted to know what Scourge was even doing in the kitchen at 1:30 at night, and partly to make sure that he wasn’t just imagining Scourge there, and that his tired brain wasn’t playing tricks on him). “What’s got you up this late?” he tried. “Too busy thinking about tomorrow?”

Scourge was about to say no, but he quickly changed his mind. He wasn’t about to open up to Zonic about why he couldn’t sleep. “Yeah, thinkin’ about tomorrow” he said, still facing the sink wall. “Lemme guess. You had a bad dweam.”

Zonic frowned, and tugged at something around his wrist. It looked like a ratty old bracelet, something a kid made out by weaving some string. It looked years old, at any rate. “None of your business.. And even if I did, I don’t see why I’d want to tell you about it,” he said. Ouch. And Scourge thought that Zonic was starting to trust him, too.

Then again, he did just insult the guy. Talking to people was  _ hard. _

“Look, I’m just on edge, alright?” the green hedgehog said, turning around to face him. “Just because I ain’t younger like you are, or hurt like Sonic is, don’t mean I’m not goin’ through my own shit right now.” He said this with a condescending tone, not even realizing it. Zonic, naturally, only got angrier.

“You think I want to be like this?” he asked darkly, pointing to his own face. “Oh, Zonic’s been turned into a kid, he’s allowed to mope all he wants. Scourge is such a unique, special snowflake because he has problems that  _ don’t  _ involve becoming a kid again,” he mocked. Scourge was slightly taken aback-- he actually hadn’t meant what he said as an insult, it just sort of came out that way naturally-- and he frowned sourly.

“Whatever. I’m going back up to bed,” he grunted, walking out of the kitchen and shoving past the smaller hedgehog.

“Good. I don’t want to talk to you right now anyway,” Zonic crossed his arms. Though he tried to look angry, his face still had the lingering fear from his nightmare. Scourge didn’t notice though, as he was too busy angrily climbing back upstairs.

_ ‘Damn Zone Cop… I wasn’t botherin’ anybody, why’d he have to get all up in my business like that… Takin’ everythin’ I say, spinnin’ it aroUND WOAH SHIT,’  _ he thought as he tripped and quickly caught himself on the last stair.  _ ‘Jeez… Guess I do need sleep if I can’t even handle stairs. Blue got any sleepin’ pills up here?’ _ He rubbed at his eyes as he slipped into the bathroom, turning on the light. Ignoring his reflection in the mirror (if his reflection looked like Sonic again, he’d flip), he yanked open the medicine cabinet and began searching through its contents. It wasn’t long before he found what he was looking for.

Scourge slept hard that night, hazy and exhausted. He finally had a dreamless sleep, his first one in weeks.

ooo

The eldest blue hedgehog laid on top of the roof, staring up at the twinkling stars above. His head was full of thoughts, which he was trying to clear. He needed sleep. If all went according to plan, they were going to get the final Emerald first thing in the morning and finally end this thing. He was going to go Super, get rid of the energy trapped inside of him, and defeat the Time Eater once and for all. He was going to fix this mess that he’d gotten the world- no, the  _ multiverse _ into. He needed to get some rest. But for some reason, he just couldn’t.

The speedster exhaled softly and closed his eyes. He  _ felt _ tired, exhausted even. Seeing what had become of Frog Forest that afternoon had worn him out, and he needed to sleep to process everything that had happened. But he couldn’t fall asleep for the life of him. It was like there was some force keeping him awake, preventing him from slipping under into unconsciousness, even though he felt ready to pass out.

He rubbed his glove-clad fingers against the worn roof shingles, and tried to relax as the nighttime breeze enveloped him. He didn’t feel right. He knew it was probably just his scar acting up, the energy sealed inside of him messing with his brain. But the hedgehog felt… anxious, he supposed was the word for it. He was looking forward to kicking the Time Eater’s butt and restoring the proper flow of time, but part of him just… didn’t want to. He wished time would stop altogether, that tomorrow would never come. That he could just curl up and stop existing, at least for a while. He just got this sense of foreboding thinking about it, like things weren’t going to go exactly according to plan. What that meant exactly, Sonic had no idea. All he could do was hope they came out on top, and that no one got hurt in the process. But given how things were going lately, even  _ that  _  seemed too much to hope for.

_ ‘We sure have been taking a beating lately,’ _ Sonic thought, his fingers twitching.  _ ‘I’m getting worse by the day, Zonic’s still not used to being a kid, little me is stressed beyond all belief… and Scourge… there’s definitely something bothering him. He hasn’t been sleeping well, I know that much. Maybe the whole ‘hero’ thing is making him uneasy. He’s kinda going against everything he’s ever known, after all. Even if he wants to do it, it can’t be an easy change to make. I mean, one second he was throwin’ punches and snapping that inhibitor collar around my neck, and the next, he takes it off of me and lets the whole thing slide? And what was up with him when he saw Big? Just because Big looked like his cellmate, he blew up at him and ran away… Whatever’s going on with him, I hope he sorts it out by morning.’ _

He looked up at the sky, stars twinkling and dancing in the blackness. They didn’t form any shapes he recognized, like they were all in the wrong place. The night sky he was looking at could have been ancient, as if the movement of the stars over hundreds of millions of years had been reversed. He stretched his hand up, holding his fingers out and blocking some of the stars from his view.  _ ‘I have to fix this,’ _ he thought, realizing just how much the rip in time had grown and spread.  _ ‘I have to put the  _ stars _ back together. But… how? What happens if I can’t fix the time stream, and there’s too much damage? Is it just… game over?’ _ It was a scenario he hated to think about, and usually refused to even believe in. There was  _ always  _ a way to win. But the hedgehog silently wondered if he had bitten off more than he could chew. He had others helping him, sure, but he was the only one who had extensive experience going Super.  _ He _ was the hero of Mobius, this was  _ his _ responsibility.

He brought his hands to his forehead and clenched his eyes shut.  _ ‘You’re over-thinking this. Worrying too much,’ _ he told himself.  _ ‘Everything’ll work out fine. Nothing’ll go wrong, and if something does happen, you’ll fix it. Just go with the flow and take this as it comes. Just like you always have. It doesn’t matter what happens, just so long as you never give up.’ _

He was up most of the night trying to get himself to believe that.

ooo

“Guys! Last Emerald! I’ve got the location!” Tails shouted, running through the house at the crack of dawn. Everyone groggily opened their eyes, their bodies not wanting to move this early in the morning. The other fox and the three hedgehogs that were inside rolled out of bed, almost falling onto the floor, while the elder Sonic climbed back in through his bedroom window.

“Wha’s goin’ on?” he asked, mid-yawn. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his quills were a mess. It was immediately obvious that he hadn’t gotten much sleep.

Tails poked his head in the room, looking much the same. The only difference was that the fox was brimming with energy, probably because of one too many cups of coffee. “I stayed up all night tracking down the final Emerald,” he said, slightly jittery. “South Island’s Marble Zone. Be ready to leave in ten!”

“Why do we have to go so early?” Zonic groaned, lying on the floor with his legs still on the bed, tangled in blankets. “C’mon man, just five more minutes--”

“Do you  _ want _ the Time Eater to get the seventh Emerald? What would we do then?!” the fox exclaimed. “We need to get there as fast as possible! Come  _ on!” _ He gripped Zonic’s wrists and dragged him out of the clutches of the bed and out of the room entirely. Sonic merely blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to process what was going on.

“Marble Zone... ?” he mumbled, shuffling out of the room. “Great, I love starting my day off with a healthy dose of lava.”

Ten minutes later, he would realize lava was the worst of his worries.

ooo

The whole gang insisted on going to Marble Zone on Sonic’s old home of South Island. No one wanted to miss out on the last Chaos Emerald, and the Time Eater butt-kicking that was sure to ensue. The six exited the portal Zonic had opened up, landing safely in a relatively stable part of the old ruins. There didn’t seem to be many fountains of lava spurting up around them, and passages underground were no where to be seen, which was unusual for the area. They seemed to be in sort of a field-ish part of the Zone, with massive buildings and marble pillars everywhere. The sky was unusually cloudy, and the air had a nasty chill to it.

The young Sonic shivered, taking note of the lack of birds and other wildlife around. “Not to be a downer guys, but I have a bad feeling about this…” he said, looking around.

“We can’t worry about that now,” Tails said, pounding a fist into his open hand determinedly. “We’ve got a job to finish! Can any of you feel the Emerald nearby?”

The two Sonics and Scourge all closed their eyes and focused, trying to pick up on the sensitive energies flowing through the air. Zonic tried the same with the scanner on his gauntlet (which was too loose on his arm now, so it slid all over the place). They all got the same result.

“No good,” Scourge said, crossing his arms against his chest. “I can barely feel the Chaos Emeralds we  _ have. _ There’s too much interference here, too much of that time energy crap.”

“Yeah, I don’t feel anything either,” the older Sonic said, feeling a dull itch inside his scar. “I’m with little-me here, I don’t like this place. Everything feels off.”

“But we can’t give up!” Lil’ T cheered, flying up to everyone’s eye level. “What have we learned so far? The more time is messed up, the greater chance there is of an Emerald being close by! We just gotta look, that’s all!” He soared around excitedly, somehow filled with energy so early in the morning.

“Yeah, but where do we  _ start _ looking, bud?” Mini-Sonic asked, scratching his quills. “Marble Zone’s a big place. We could spend all day here and not find it.”

“Um, guys?” Zonic said, turning around slowly. He pointed to something in the distance, looking worried. “I’m not exactly an expert on volcanic regions, but… is that normal?”

The others all turned to see what he was looking at. A huge vent of steam was shooting violently out of the ground. Just then, the very earth beneath their feet began to rumble and shake. A crack formed in the rock, splitting the earth. More steam shot out of the new gap, and lava began to bubble up after it. The ground didn’t stop shaking, and the crack elongated further and further.

“That doesn’t look good,” the Sonics said, taking a step back. The time energy surrounding them was thrumming excitedly. Something was happening, and it wasn’t Marble Zone’s volcano erupting. “What’s going on?!”

“I dunno,” Scourge said, “but there’s more where that came from. Look!” He pointed up into the sky, where the dark clouds were swirling menacingly above them. Where there was no wind before, powerful gales suddenly began to blow. Volcanic ash and dust began to fly through the air, making it difficult to see anything. The ground shook and cracked even more, sending the group scrambling to keep their balance. They could make out the fissure in the earth cracking towards them, splintering the ground at a record pace. The ground gave a massive lurch, droplets of lava splashing up from the recently formed cracks. The clouds circled faster and faster, forming a sort of vortex. And then the unthinkable happened.

The chunk of land they were standing on began to float, being pulled away from the rest of the ground and dragged up into the air, into the dark clouds.

Mobius was beginning to be torn apart.

“Jump!!” Sonic shouted, grabbing whoever’s wrists were closest to him and leaping off of the small floating island, which was getting sucked up into the sky at a terrifying pace. The six of them landed safely back on semi-solid ground, but they knew they wouldn’t be safe for long. Everyone took a split second to glance backwards at the impending danger, but they didn’t waste any more time after that. The crack was racing along the ground now, spewing steam and lava wherever it went. It split off into different cracks, breaking in all directions now.The group of hedgehogs and foxes were off and running- or flying, in the Tails’ case- trying to escape. The air was filled with dirt, dust, and bits of gravel, and the wind grew hot. The ground was now shaking constantly, threatening to throw everyone to the floor and causing pillars and buildings to collapse all around them. Sonic could see more earth being ripped apart in the distance; it wasn’t just behind them, it was all over the place. He sped ahead, taking the lead, and steered the group to the right, keeping them from getting sandwiched in the middle of two forming fissures. Lightning cracked, lighting up the sky. In the center of the cloud vortex was nothing but pure black, as if it opened up into a black hole.

_ ‘What the hell is happening?!’ _ the older Sonic thought as he ran as fast as his feet could carry him.  _ ‘All this time energy in the air, this has got to be the Time Eater’s fault. But how? Were we too late, did that thing find the Chaos Emerald? And if it did, how is it ripping Mobius apart like this?!’ _ He downright refused to let himself think too much about what was happening. If he did, he was likely to think about Amy, and Knuckles, and his other friends, and everyone else on the planet that was crumbling right before his very eyes, and--

“Sonic!” Tails shouted, reaching his hand out towards the hedgehog. He was flying steadily higher, even though he had stopped spinning his tails.

He was getting sucked up, just like the ground was.

Sonic jumped and grabbed his friend’s hand, dragging him back down to the ground. He was _not_ going to let his little brother be taken away from him like this. He pulled Tails back down, the two of them landing on the rumbling ground just in time to see the younger Sonic jump up to grab _his_ brother. Unfortunately, the two kids weighed less than their older counterparts, and their combined weight was not enough to overcome the force of the powerful wind. The two of them made it a few feet into the air before Zonic reached out for them, pulling them back down by the twelve-year-old hedgehog’s ankle.

“Prime, we can’t just keep running like this!” the Zone Cop shouted, helping the kids find their footing again. “We have to get to safe ground!”

“What safe ground?!” Sonic yelled back, sidestepping around the cracks forming at his feet. The earthquakes were catching up to them, and fast. Almost all of the surrounding earth was cracked up and unstable, with more bits of land flying away each second. The air was filled with massive chunks of land, sucked up by the virtual black hole in the sky. However, even with all this, Sonic refused to let himself stop running. He wasn’t sure what he was hoping for; maybe if he ran hard enough, the last Chaos Emerald would appear right in front of him. Maybe he would come across the one corner of the planet that wasn’t being torn apart, and all his friends would be there, waiting for him. Of course, deep down, he knew nothing like that would happen. It was too good to be true. But he couldn’t stop, he couldn’t give up; forget the rest of the multiverse, his home and his friends were in danger! He wasn’t going to throw in the towel now! He was Sonic the Hedgehog, Hero of Mobius, for crying out loud! His world was in danger, and he had to do something!

The ground suddenly shifted below him, causing the hedgehog to trip up and fall flat on his face, skidding to a stop. He wiped the dirt out of his eyes and struggled to his feet, legs wobbling. He couldn’t see the others anymore, as the air was too thick with debris. His face and hands stung from the impact with the hard ground, and the constantly shifting floor wasn’t letting him regain his balance. The plot of land lurched forward again without warning, sending the speedster to the edge of a newly formed fissure, magma bubbling dangerously at the bottom. He tried to keep his balance to avoid falling in, but it was no use. One more quake, and he toppled over the edge.

Sonic tried to grab for the edge of the fissure, but his fingers found nothing but air. He didn’t even have time to think about his impending death before he felt something wrap around one of his wrists and jerk him upward. It took him a moment to realize that he wasn’t falling anymore. He opened his eyes, which he had clenched shut.

“Are you going to try  _ at all _ to climb back up, or do I have to haul your ass back up here myself?!” It was Scourge. The green hog was lying flat on his stomach, leaning over the edge, both hands gripping Sonic’s arm. Sonic stared at him in shock before he managed to get a foothold on the edge of the cliff. He pushed with his legs while Scourge pulled, and he climbed up over the edge. Both of them ended up lying spread-eagle on the shaking ground, breathing hard.

“Thanks--” Sonic coughed, having breathed in some of the dirt and dust in the air. “Thanks for the save.” He smiled. Of all the people that could have saved his life, he hadn’t expected to be rescued by his anti-self.

Scourge spat, getting to his feet. “Whatever,” he grumbled, holding a hand up to his eyes to try and see through the massive storm that had whipped up. “Shit, I can’t see a thing in this! Where did everyone else go?”

“I don’t know, I don’t know if they saw me fall or not,” Sonic answered, climbing to his feet as well. A sharp pain ran up his leg, the one his scar cut into. His lungs were burning too, which was a cause for worry. He had been running too much, and too fast. His strange scar was likely to deepen and spread again if he kept going at the rate that he was, but stopping to rest wasn't an option. Not with the planet crumbling beneath his feet.  _ ‘I can’t keep this up. I can’t run forever… but what should we do?’ _ he thought nervously. He squinted his eyes, looking around for any sign of the others. The visibility was incredibly low, and the constantly shaking ground was no help. Lightning flashed suddenly, the crash of thunder coming almost immediately after. The bright flash of light illuminated the surrounding landscape. In the split second of light, Sonic and Scourge could easily see the silhouettes of the marble pillars and buildings that were still standing, of trees that were on fire, and…

“The guys!” Sonic exclaimed, pointing to their 10 o’clock. He and Scourge quickly sped over to the others, making sure to not fall into any more crevices on the way.

They arrived at their destination in seconds flat, and created a huge cloud of dust as they brought themselves to a stop. The other members of their group were no longer running for their lives- there was nowhere for them to run to. Everything ahead of them had broken apart, and the ground behind them was catching up. Tails sighed with relief as Sonic and Scourge approached.

“Whew, there you are!  I was worried you two fell underground!" he said.

“Almost did!" Sonic smiled, trying to catch his breath after the painful run over.

“Can we focus here? The planet is kind of crumbling under our feet!” Mini-Sonic yelled, holding Lil’ T close. The fox kit was starting to get really scared, exemplified by his namesakes instinctively curling around his body.

“Exactly," Zonic said, his arms crossed.  "And if we don’t find that seventh Emerald within the next few minutes, there won’t be a planet left at all,” The Zone Cop's muscles were tense, and his tone was angry. He wasn't accustomed to a situation being this far out of his hands, and his training was kicking in. It was time to take control. He turned to Sonic, both the younger and older versions. “Sonic, Sonic, you two are the most Chaos adept out of all of us. Do either of you sense the Emerald nearby?”

The two blue speedsters closed their eyes and tried to tune into their environment. Normally, they could tell quite easily if an Emerald was nearby- this went double for the elder hedgehog. There was so much pandemonium happening all around them, however, that even when they focused as hard as they could, they could only pick up the equivalent of static. They frowned as they both shook their heads, letting their intense focus drop. “Nada, too much interference with all this madness going around!” they both said. Zonic took one last look around the distressing landscape. He grimaced.

“It’s my duty to maintain and protect cosmic order, and we can’t protect anything if we all get killed. Come on, we’re all getting out of here, right now!” the Zone Cop shouted, slamming the button on his belt buckle. A portal opened up behind him with a _zoop!_ “Everyone in!”

“Welp, not gonna argue with that,” Scourge said, moving towards the portal. He took one glance back at the others, offered the most encouraging smile he could muster without making himself look like a total softie, and then jumped through the portal.

The Littles were next. “Tails, Zonic’s right. It’s not safe here, you gotta go!” Mini-Sonic said, pushing his little bro towards the portal.

“If I go, you’re coming with me!” the fox protested, gripping his best friend's hand.

"I..." Sonic started unsurely. He didn't want to leave his brother, but at the same time he felt wrong leaving his home to crumble to pieces. He glanced over at his older incarnation. The two hedgehog's eyes met, the elder Sonic's expression saying enough so that words weren't needed. No timey-wimey mumbo jumbo involved- just understanding. The young speedster nodded and faced his twin-tailed brother.

"Alright, we go together. Ready? C'mon." He wrapped his arm around the kid's shoulders, steering him into the portal without looking back. The duo, like Scourge before them, vanished into the swirling orange light.

The older Sonic turned to his own brother. "Okay Tails, you're up."

"You're not coming with us, are you?" the fox asked, his features twisting into a disappointed frown. The kid sure caught on quick, alright.

"I can't. I'm not leaving Mobius behind, even if there's only a 1% chance of me being able to save it. That's why you gotta go. I'm not risking you dying, too," Sonic said, pushing Tails towards the portal.

"You can't do this on your own! You think I can't notice how hard it is for you to even stand up, let alone run? I'm not going to leave you behind!"

"See you on the other side!" The hedgehog gave his best friend one final shove, sending the two-tail through the portal. He exhaled heavily. Tails wasn't lying- it was getting harder for him to move around, that much was true. He felt guilty going on ahead solo, but it was for the best. He couldn't have anyone else risking their lives like this.

The only two left now were Sonic Prime and Zonic, both struggling to keep their balance on the rumbling slab of rock they were standing on.

"Sonic, don't make me force you through that portal," the Zone Cop threatened, taking a step towards the older hedgehog.

"Z, you more than anyone should realize why I have to stay! Mobius needs me!"

"Mobius needs you _alive._ We won't let Mobius die, but we need to get out of here NOW!" The wind was picking up, making it harder to hear. The two yelled even louder to compensate.

"I'm finding the last Chaos Emerald, and you're not stopping me!" Sonic growled, taking a step towards the Cop. His knees suddenly buckled underneath him, and he felt an intense burning sensation in his chest. He cried out in pain as he hit the ground. It felt as if his whole body was on fire. His muscles weren't responding to his commands, leaving him unable to do anything but curl up into a fetal position. He could barely breathe. The fire in his chest snaked up to his face, scorching across his muzzle and through his left eye. He gritted his teeth as he clawed at the ground, trying to get a grip on something.

He could feel the ground falling away from him, slipping out of his reach. He didn't feel like he was falling, though- it felt as if something was supporting him, holding him up.

“N-no… Z, put me down…” he choked out, trying not to let his voice catch. “I’m not leaving Mobius…!”

“Sonic, are you insane?!” Zonic hissed, lugging him towards the orange swirling light of the portal. “You can’t even stand! I’m not leaving you for dead out here, you’re coming with us whether you want to or not!”

Sonic tried to retaliate, to get loose- there was something inside him egging him on, telling him to leave the cop in the dust and do things his way. But the only sounds he could get out of his mouth were groans and suppressed screams as the burning feeling continued to sear through his veins. He was unable to do anything as Zonic pulled him through the portal.

Zonic stumbled out the other end of the gateway, the two hedgehogs landing in a heap on soft, grassy ground that was most definitely  _ not _ on Mobius. Sonic, one eye clenched shut in pain, looked back through the portal to his home world. The final chunk of land they had been standing on had just been lifted up into the atmosphere. There was nothing but a lake of lava as far as the eye could see, and even the molten rock was being sucked up into the sky. The sky itself was pitch black, with purple and gold swirling around in it. Large spinning gears came down from the clouds, enveloped in something smoky and dark. It had multiple arms with massive claws, and it glared at the portal with piercing yellow eyes.

That was the last of Mobius that Sonic saw before the portal closed.

His frantically beating heart dropped to his stomach. The Time Eater. Mobius. Mobius was gone. He was in pain, he was on fire. Mobius was gone. The last Chaos Emerald was gone. His home was being torn to shreds and there wasn’t anything he could do about it. The Time Eater was there. The Time Eater was consuming time and space, consuming his planet, consuming all the people who lived on it. Billions of people. His friends. His home. All on the fast track to destruction.

They had  _ failed. _

Sonic screamed. Everything hurt, and Mobius was practically gone, and they had failed.  _ He _ had failed. Getting the dumb scar in the first place, bringing the Time Eater’s power to No Zone, messing with the Emerald Locator so it took longer to find the last two Emeralds. All of this was his fault. And all he could do was scream.

He wasn’t sure how long he screamed for, but when he was done he had tears streaming down his face and ripped out grass in his hands. He was still in a great deal of pain, but the burning of his scar had stopped getting worse. He was panting, each labored breath sounding close to a choke.

The others stood around him in silence, each staring at the spot where the portal had disappeared. The younger Sonic was reacting in much the same way as the older one; trembling, wet eyes threatening to leak, heart beating in his throat. He was hugging his younger brother tightly, but was unable to offer any comforting words. Both of the foxes were openly crying, unable to comprehend that their entire planet had probably been erased by now. There was certainly no more Marble Zone to return to, and the rest of Mobius had likely started to crack up and fall apart too. Even if they hadn’t seen the whole world be destroyed, with the seventh Chaos Emerald gone and the Time Eater returned, they didn’t need to see it to believe it.

Zonic turned his back on the others, blinking back tears as he made a call to Chief Zlaze. “This is Zonic,” he said, his voice wobbling. “Mobius Prime is being torn apart. Evacuate the planet, get as many of the Prime Zoners out of there as you can.” On the other end, Zlaze had been effectively quieted for the first time in recent memory. It didn’t last long though, as she began barking orders to everyone she was with, and Zonic hung up. He ripped his helmet off and threw it to the ground. He couldn’t process this. He and Scourge merely stood there dumbfounded, neither having a clue what would happen next. Mobius Prime had played huge roles in their lives, and in the existence of their own worlds. The Prime Zone had been the central hub of the multiverse, with every other universe in existence having branched off from it at some point in time. Scourge’s world was a mirror of Mobius Prime, but what was it reflecting now? The No Zone couldn’t exist without the Prime Zone, and neither could any other Zone. Mobius had been a constant in the multiverse, like the sun to the solar system. It had been there since before anyone could remember, and no one could imagine it suddenly not existing anymore. It was even harder for the two non-Mobians to accept now because Mobius had started to mean something to them. It was a beautiful world, and one that had started to feel like a home. But now it was gone.

“Sonic,” Zonic said, breaking the silence. Everyone turned their heads to look at him, except for the older blue hedgehog, who was still lying face-down in the grass. “Both Sonics, and Tailses. I’m… I’m so sorry. This should never have happened.”

_ “Damn right it shouldn’t have!!” _ the older Sonic shouted, his voice raw. He pushed himself up to face Zonic, and everyone took a surprised step back. His scar had cut straight through half of his muzzle and his entire left eye. His pupil was gone entirely, and his iris had turned a shimmery lavender. The part of his eye that was normally white had turned completely black. Hot tears were still streaming down his face, and he was shaking. “If you hadn’t dragged me out of there, I might have been able to  _ do  _ something!  _ Billions _ of people were counting on me, and  _ now they’re all doomed!!” _ he cried, pushing himself to his feet. The pain shooting through his body was immense, but he ignored it.

“Sonic, if I hadn’t dragged you out of there, you’d be… You’d be dead right now!” Zonic yelled back. “You collapsed, you couldn’t move! What could you have done?!”

_ “SHUT UP!!!”  _ In  flash, Zonic was on the ground, and Sonic was standing over him with a fist raised. The Zone Cop’s lip was bleeding, but he was more concerned with the fact that Sonic Prime had just punched him in the mouth. Sonic’s eyes went wide, realizing what he just did. Everyone was silent.

“… Holy shit,” Scourge breathed. The scene quickly erupted into pandemonium. The youngest hedgehog and the older Tails had pushed Sonic back down to the ground and were shouting, demanding answers from him while Lil’ T helped Zonic sit up.

“What the hell is  _ wrong _ with you?!” the younger Sonic yelled, his voice still wet from crying. “Who are you, Knuckles?! You don’t just punch people for  _ saving your life! _ ”

Sonic trembled, looking absolutely broken. “I… I’m sorry, I don’t know what… Something just came over me all of a sudden, and I… I didn’t mean it!” he gasped, looking up at his past-self and Tails. He turned his head to face Zonic. “Z, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to--”

“I know you didn’t,” the Zone Cop said, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. HIs lip was still bleeding heavily; it was lucky that he wasn’t hurt more, considering the incredible speed of the punch. He didn’t think he’d seen Sonic move that fast since before his injury.

“He  _ didn’t mean to? _ ” Scourge asked, hands on his hips and his foot tapping furiously. “What, was it an  _ accident _ that he ran up and socked Chrome Dome in the face?”

“We’re all a little… stressed out right now, is all,” Zonic said calmly. “I’m not mad.” He accepted the hand that Lil’ T offered him and got to his feet.

“Are you okay?” the older Tails asked, taking a step towards him and eyeing his bleeding lip with concern.

“Yeah, I’ll live. I’ve taken harder hits to the face before,” Zonic shrugged. He spit some of the blood out of his mouth, and the conversation fell into a lull. The group was extremely tense, just struggling to process the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog had attacked one of his friends.

_ ‘What is wrong with me?’ _ Sonic thought, staring at the hand that had contacted Zonic’s face. There was a small spatter of blood on one of his knuckles, which he quickly wiped off.  _ ‘Just because Mobius is… you know… doesn’t mean I have to excuse to hit anyone…! Zonic just saved my life, why did I…?’ _ He held his head in his hands as he wracked his brain for answers. He didn’t even know what he was doing until Zonic was on the ground. How could he justify actions he didn’t even think about taking?

“So…” the younger Tails said, breaking the quiet. “Where are we?” Emerging from the portal, they had landed in the middle of a large field. There was a small river close by, and a bustling, smoggy city in the far distance. The wind was nothing more than a gentle breeze, and the only clouds in the sky were heavy looking storm clouds that wouldn’t reach them for quite some time. They looked around, realizing that they had no idea where they had been brought.

“This is Moebius, Scourge’s world,” Zonic said with a huff. “It was the first place I thought of that wasn’t sideways. We should be safe from the Time Eater here.”

“Moebius? Huh. Cleaner than I remember,” Scourge raised an eyeridge, looking out towards the faraway city. “That’s… Mobotropolis over there, I bet,” he said, mostly to himself. He looked around to the others, and saw that they were all looking at him.  _ ‘Are they… expecting me to do something?’ _ He supposed he was the leading expert on Moebius, and they didn’t really have a plan anymore. Two thirds of the group were now homeless. No one knew what to do. They all needed time to think and recuperate. Scourge exhaled through pursed lips and scratched the back of his head. “We need to rest. C’mon,” he said simply, slowly leading the others out of the field and to someplace where they would hopefully be safe.


	22. Visiting the Parents

The walk to wherever Scourge was leading them all was surprisingly silent. Not a single "are we there yet?" or "where are we going?". Everyone was in too much shock. Mobius was lost. Huge chunks of the ground had broken apart and flown up into a giant time-hole in the sky as lava burst from the earth and the wind ravaged the land-- and that was just what happened to the Marble Zone on South Island. What had happened to cities like Station Square and Central City? Entire skyscrapers being lifted from the ground would be catastrophic. Everything happened so suddenly, people wouldn't have been able to escape in time. Zonic had called in the Zone Cops to begin emergency evacuation of the planet, but there would be no way to save everyone. What about Knuckles? And Amy, and everyone else they knew?

Sonic limped along, leaning on Tails for support. He hadn't been able to do anything. He could barely move. If it hadn't been for Zonic dragging him, he would have been stuck on Mobius, too. He couldn't even save himself, let alone billions of others. The normally cocky, happy-go-lucky hedgehog was completely silent. He looked down at the ground, only lifting his eyes often enough to get a sense for where they were going. His movements were uncharacteristically sluggish, and his eyes were bloodshot. Well, one eye was bloodshot anyway. The other was completely black except for his iris, which had turned a bright, somewhat glowing lavender color. His vision out of that eye was foggy and dark. He could only make out silhouettes of people and things, with the occasional detail, like someone's eyes or mouth, highlighted in light purple. It was bizarre and disorienting, and only served as a constant reminder that he wasn't healthy. That he wasn't okay, that he was getting worse with each step he took.

He  _ hated _ the Time Eater. This was the sort of hatred he usually saved for Eggman after the man had done something completely wretched, like when he unleashed Chaos on Station Square and nearly washed away half the city. Sonic the Hedgehog never deliberately wished to harm another living thing, but the Time Eater and its goons were the exception.

Speaking of which, what had inspired him to punch Zonic like that? It was so unlike him, so out of character. He could barely even remember doing it; one second he was yelling at the Zone Cop, and the next minute the kid was on the ground and Sonic’s fist had blood on it. Something was happening to him that he didn’t like. He was feeling less and less like himself every time his scar grew and spread, and that frightened him. He didn’t want to think about what would happen when it finally consumed all of him.

The only way Tails could cope with the recent disaster was by distracting himself. He couldn’t bring himself to think about the fate of his home, the fate of all those people. So he focused on Sonic’s injury, what the Time Eater’s next target might be after Mobius Prime, what their next move should be after they rested up. He spoke none of this, but his mind was going at a million miles per hour. A coping mechanism that usually only Sonic used, Tails instinctively adopted. He had to keep his mind occupied, or he risked spiralling down a slippery slope of hatred and depression, like his older brother was currently doing. He was determined to stay strong. So he did what he did best-- he thought, and he worked.

The younger versions of Sonic and Tails were devastated. Even though they were eight years in the future, this Mobius was still their home. It was where they lived, it was where their friends lived, it was where billions of people and animals lived. That something like this could happen to the whole world… they couldn’t believe it. The two time travelers were more accustomed to saving small islands than they were to saving planets. The sheer gravity of everything they had been doing had never hit them until they found themselves in Marble Zone. Even then, they were dumbfounded. That the Time Eater was this powerful, that the whole world could collapse at a moment’s notice… they couldn’t comprehend it.

Zonic sent a short message out to No Zone via his helmet’s computer as soon as they started walking.  _ “Escaped to Moebius with Sonics, Tailses, Scourge, and six Chaos Emeralds. We need time to rest before planning our next move. Over and out.” _ Then he turned off his helmet. He didn’t want to deal with the Commander and other No Zone higher-ups asking questions. He didn’t want to talk about anything that had just happened. He  _ couldn’t _ talk about it. It was his duty to protect and maintain order throughout the multiverse, and the central hub of all realities had just been destroyed under his watch. He felt like a failure, almost as much as Sonic did. What was going to happen now? Mobius Prime had never  _ not _ existed before, at least from the point of view of all the other worlds out there. Whatever happened next was a total mystery. The entire multiverse could fall apart at the seams, for all he knew. Whatever happened next was on his head. Not to mention, he had never become so attached to another Zone before. No Zoners didn’t often make friends with their alternate selves, but Sonic was his friend. Tails was his friend. Mobius had started to feel like a second home to him. A place he felt safe and welcome and comfortable. And just like that, poof. It was gone.

“We’re almost there,” Scourge said, his voice quiet. He tried to push the day’s events out of his mind. He himself had tried to destroy Mobius in the past. He shouldn’t be getting all sad about it being destroyed now. Even  _ if  _ the Mystic Ruins had begun to feel sort of homey and safe, which it  _ didn’t, _ it wasn’t like he would have been staying there for much longer.  _ 'That world should mean nothing to you, _ ' he told himself, blinking away the dust that had gotten in his eyes from the storm. _ 'Focus on what's next. We've gotta stop this thing before it wipes out a planet you actually want to live on.' _

Everyone slowly raised their eyes to see up the hill in front of them. There was an old, decrepit-looking house at the top, surrounded by overgrown grass and hedges. House was a bit of an understatement, as the place was enormous. It was practically a castle, complete with columns and spires, and even gargoyles perched on the high-up ledges. If it hadn't been falling apart, the place would have appeared to be regal, elegant, and excessively gaudy. However, the windows were all boarded up, with some of the planks of wood having rotted away or otherwise fallen down. Shingles were missing from the roof. Graffiti was everywhere. The gargoyles were broken and chipped in places, or just missing entirely. A lot of the exposed windows were broken or cracked, and ivy was covering most of the walls.

"What is this place?" Tails asked, looking up in surprise. Of all the places he thought Scourge would bring them, a run-down mansion was not one of them.

"My parent's place," the green hog said, not caring to mention any more than that. Seeing how well the place had been cared for over the years, it was pretty clearly a place he didn't like visiting. It was quite possibly the only place he could have brought him where he wouldn't be arrested on-sight. He  _ had _ tried to conquer Moebius, after all, and it wasn’t exactly common knowledge that he was currently on probation. Staying in an abandoned house on a hill far away from any other property was likely his only option for refuge now.

"This is where your parents live?" Lil' T asked, wiping his eyes and nose. "It looks abandoned. Did they decorate for Halloween early or something?"

"They don't live here anymore," Scourge answered. On the outside, he seemed indifferent to the whole arrangement, but the Moebian’s heart had dropped into the pit of his stomach as soon as he saw the house. He had hoped to never come here again, to leave this part of his past alone and never look back on it. The last thing he wanted was to invite people in. He had a bad feeling that his parents would come up in conversation at some point. Scourge shuddered, briefly thinking back to the nightmare he’d had last night.  _ ‘Dad… Shit, this is not gonna be fun.’ _

They approached the house, finding the impressively large front gate locked with a heavy padlock. The lock and chain were added recently. Cops weren't fond of kids trespassing on the old property, it seemed. "I could break this down, but if we're staying here for a while, we don't want anything to give us away," Scourge said. He looked over at the Tailses expectantly. They got the hint and nodded, and in less than a minute they had carried the rest of the party over the fence and landed safely in the overgrown garden. They pushed their way through the tall grass and brambles, shoving through the ivy that had sprawled all over the old walkways. After climbing up the porch steps, Scourge reached up to a small hole in the wall, just underneath one of the cracked porch lights. He brushed aside a spiderweb or two and felt around until he found a key. He pulled it out of the wall and inserted it in the lock on the door.  _ ‘Good thing all the kids who dare each other to come in here are too chicken to try,’ _ he thought as he turned the key and the lock clicked. He turned the knob and pushed, finding it stuck. The green hog shoved it with his shoulder, forcing it open. “And here we are.”

The door swung open, and the dusty 'grandma's attic' smell hit the group before they even entered. They all filed in, walking into a huge foyer with a large staircase at the back and several doors leading to other parts of the house. The remains of an elaborate chandelier hung from the ceiling, pieces of the crystal littering the floor.

With the lack of power in the house and all the boarded up windows, there was very little light in the room. Zonic turned on the headlight on his helmet so everyone could take a look around. “Yeesh,” he said, sneezing when dust from the ornate area rug flew into his face. “How long’s this place been abandoned?”

“I dunno, ten years-ish,” Scourge shrugged. “The place ain’t comfy, but it’s prob’ly one a’ the only places we can stay around here. Unless we crash in some other Zone instead,” he said, giving Zonic a sideways glance.

“We can’t risk the Time Eater following us halfway across the multiverse,” the Zone Cop grunted. “No offense, but Moebius is a lot more expendable than No Zone.”

“No offense taken. Trust me…” the green one shuddered as he closed the door behind the older Sonic, who was the last one inside.

The younger of the Sonics stared up at the high vaulted ceiling and the chandelier that clung from it. “Wow, were you…  _ rich?” _

Scourge rolled his eyes. “What, did the huge mansion give it away? Duh, we were loaded. S’what happens when yer dad’s a backstabbin’ politician and yer mom’s a professional pretty person.”

“Y’don’t have to be salty about it, man…” the small hedgehog muttered under his breath, stepping further into the house. He squinted to see in the limited light of Zonic’s headlamp. “Green, you got any candles in this joint?”

“Probably. Dunno where. Like I said, it’s been a while,” the Moebian grumbled. He started pulling white sheets off of the side tables in the room, of which there were several. He yanked open their drawers, pulling candles and matches out of a couple of them. He scratched one of the matches against the Zone Cop's jacket (to Zonic's loud disapproval) and lit three or four of the candles. Zonic, satisfied with this new light source, turned off his headlamp. The room instantly dimmed, now lit only with the flickering golden light of the candles. It gave the foyer an eerie feel. The candles were distributed amongst the party members, who held the light sources close. “Well, um… Make yourselves at home, I guess…?” Scourge said hesitantly when everyone looked to him for what to do next. He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. “Uh, livin’ room’s that way if ya wanna crash,” he nodded to one of the doors on the left.

Lil’ T raised his hand high in the air, somehow still being full of pep after everything that had just happened on Mobius. “I wanna ‘splore!” the child declared, standing up on his tippy toes.

“Good for you,” Scourge said with an annoyed frown. “Whaddaya want, a tour? If you wanna look around, go right ahead.”

The kid’s face lit up with a smile. It really didn’t take much to get him excited, Scourge guessed. The fox kit grabbed the younger Sonic by the hand and started leading him towards the stairs. “C’mon, Sonic! This place is huge, I wanna see all of it!”

Mini-Sonic looked like he was about to say no, that he was too tired, that he needed to lie down for a bit and digest everything that had happened to them that morning. But he couldn’t say no to Tails when he was  _ somehow _ in a good mood and all the rest of them were miserable. Someone had to keep up morale, he supposed. “Sure thing, bud,” he said, trying not to sound too emotionally exhausted.

“Hey,” Scourge called after them, “jus’ don’t go lookin’ in the room at the end of the hall on the third floor, alright? That one’s off limits.”

“Why?” Lil’ T asked, already halfway up the first flight of stairs.

“Because I said so, that’s why,” the green hedgehog grunted. He sighed and rolled his eyes as the young fox shrugged and bolted up the rest of the stairs, his older brother in tow. The Moebian muttered something under his breath before he stalked off into the living room, the door swinging shut behind him. Zonic and Tails went to follow him, but Sonic lingered behind.

“I think I’m going to try and find a guest room,” he said quietly, his eyes following the kids upstairs. “I… need to lie down for a bit, I think.” What he really wanted to do was to go for a long run, get all his thoughts sorted out, to release his frustrations away from everyone else. But since he felt sore just from  _ walking _ , the best he could do at this point was to hope for a nap.

Tails nodded. “Do what you gotta do, bro. Given the state of this place, I’m not sure what shape the beds will be in… but you’re welcome to try them,” he said with a half shrug. Sonic nodded before silently walking off, slowly climbing the ornate stairs as Tails and Zonic followed Scourge into the living room.

By the time Sonic had ascended the stairs and found a guest bedroom with a bed that was in decent condition, his legs and lungs were aching. The room he found was a little on the smaller side, with a window that hadn’t been boarded up letting a small amount of light in from outside. All the furniture was covered in white sheets to keep the dust off of them, and even then, the place felt excessively gaudy. He yanked away the white cloth that was covering the bed, and collapsed onto the mattress, not bothering to get underneath the covers for a nap. He wished that the pain in his legs would stop, that  _ everything _ would stop. He couldn’t accept that Mobius was gone, and he had no idea what he was supposed to do about it. They were missing a single Chaos Emerald, and they were unable to do anything about the Time Eater without the last one. What was he supposed to do? He was always looking forward, refusing to let the bad times get him down. But he had no idea what lied ahead for him anymore.

He placed a hand over his darkened eye, feeling the rough texture of his scar that had invaded his face.  _ ‘What if I’m stuck like this forever? If I’ll never look like myself again… What if I’ll never  _ run  _ again... ? What am I gonna do?’ _ He pulled his hand away and instead covered up his other eye, the one he could still see out of properly. With only his dark eye opened, his entire field of vision went almost entirely black. It wasn’t quite black, but dark enough that he wasn’t sure what else to call it. The light streaming in through the old, dirty window was a dull lavender color, and the edges of some of the pieces of furniture were highlighted in light purple as well. There was a clock on the wall to his right-- it was no longer running, but even if it was, he couldn’t make out its hands well enough to be able to read it.  _ ‘This is… really trippy,’ _ Sonic thought, alternating between his two eyes to figure out how much vision he still had in the scarred eye.  _ ‘It’s not like I’m blind, I can still see where things are. But… I can’t see any details like this. I doubt I’d be able to read anything. Dunno if I could look at a picture and make it out, either. Weird…’ _ He exhaled slowly through his mouth. If he could be grateful for anything, at least only one of his eyes was screwed up. He’d already practically lost his ability to run. Losing this much sight in both of his eyes would just be the icing on the cake.

_ ‘Well, this is one fine mess you’ve gotten everyone into this time, Sonic.’ _ Images of Marble Zone breaking apart and getting sucked into the sky were still fresh in his mind, even hours later.  _ ‘You lost. The one time it really mattered… You even called in Zonic and Scourge for help, and you lost. You had your younger self here, and you. Still. Lost. Who even knows if we can fix this? What the hell can we do to fix all this…?’ _ And the hedgehog laid there, looking up at the ceiling, hopelessly wondering that one, important question. What was he supposed to do?

ooo

After Scourge had got a fire going in the fireplace, the living room started to feel almost comfy. The white sheets covering all the furniture had been tossed aside, as well as the see-through plastic coverings for the couches and arm chairs (“My parents were  _ freaks, _ ” Scourge had uttered as they threw the things aside). At the very least, the plastic had prevented any bugs or small critters from making a home of the couch cushions over the past ten years, which no one was complaining about. Scourge, Zonic, and the older Tails had all claimed their own seats around the room, and sat in relative silence. There wasn’t much to talk about aside from Mobius, and no one wanted to bring it up. Zonic had his helmet on, and was absorbed in reading reports on the Prime Zone; which cities had been successfully evacuated by the Zone Cops before everything got destroyed, mainly. Tails had taken to jotting down ideas on a yellow pad he found sitting next to a dead landline phone. He would stare at the paper for long periods of time without writing anything, seemingly lost.

Scourge didn’t have anything to distract himself with, so he stared into the fire, trying not to think about the fires that had engulfed Marble Zone.  _ ‘I hate this place,’ _ he thought as memories of his childhood flooded his mind.  _ ‘Why the hell did I decide to bring everyone here? We coulda taken our chances elsewhere, see if we could rent out a motel room or somethin’ without people tryin’ to kill me. Not like we got a ton a’ cash on us, but still. This place is almost as bad as Zone Jail, and that’s sayin’ somethin.’  _ He shuddered, and zipped up his jacket to hopefully drive away the chills.

Why did he even feel the need to get the group someplace safe so they could rest? They failed to stop the Time Eater-- that’s it. End of the line, job done. Right? There was nothing left for them to do, no reason for them to all still be together. So what was he doing? He knew he’d been getting softer lately, but was he starting to...  _ like _ these guys?  _ ‘Ew, no way,’ _ he sniffed, shooing the thought from his head.  _ ‘I mean, they’re better than my old quote-unquote team, but there ain’t many people I hate more than those pricks.’ _

He found himself wondering if his old gang knew about what happened on Mobius. They were generally pretty savvy when it came to major goings-on in other Zones, Miles especially. His world’s version of the two-tailed fox was particularly devious, and could dodge cops from ten different dimensions at once if he wanted to. Would he know about the Time Eater and what it could do? And what if the TE had followed Scourge and the others to Moebius once it was done with Mobius Prime? Sure, his old teammates were assholes, but for some reason, leaving them for dead without even a warning didn’t sit too well with him.  _ ‘Jeez, I been hangin’ out with Sonic for too long,’ _ he thought, disgusted.

After a while of sitting together, lightning flashed, and a crack of thunder outside broke the silence. “Shit,” Scourge breathed, “is it gonna rain? Hope this joint is still intact enough to hold out a storm.”

Tails shuddered, and his namesakes curled around themselves tightly. “I hope so too,” he said, eyes glancing over all the windows. Thunderstorms were not his favorite. What else could possibly happen to make the day worse?

Zonic stood up and stepped over to the window, peering between a crack in the wooden boards. “Doesn’t look like it’ll start raining for a little while yet,” the teen said with a hand on his hip. “There’s a city close by, right?”

“Yeah, Mobotropolis is only a few miles out. Why?”

“I’m hungry, and if we’re gonna be crashing here for a while, we’re gonna need food. Any good pizza places around?”

Scourge thought for a second. “Dunno if it’s still open, but the one on 23rd wasn’t half bad. Pick up some garlic knots while yer there.”

“Alright,” Z nodded. “My treat. For, uh, letting us stay here awhile. See you guys in a few.” He gave a short wave and ducked out of the room. A few seconds later, Scourge and Tails heard the sonic boom outside as he sped off.

Scourge leaned back in the armchair he’d claimed as his own, trying to get comfy. “Guess the kid needed some alone time, too. The way he rushed outta here...” he breathed, pulling his sunglasses off the top of his head and inspecting the lenses for scratches. Lightning flashed again outside, and the hedgehog saw Tails jump a little out of the corner of his eye. Scourge raised an eyeridge. “Don’t like storms?”

“So what if I don’t?” Tails asked, his fur bristling.  _ ‘If Scourge tries to make fun of me for being a  _ little  _ uncomfortable with lightning...’ _

“Jus’ tryin’ to make conversation, s’all,” the green one shrugged. “If you wanna talk about somethin’ else, I’m all ears. I’m just sick of the damn quiet. This house gives me the creeps as it is, y’know?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean,” the fox looked around at the large living room. The whole place gave off a kind of ‘haunted mansion’ sort of vibe. “Can’t believe  _ you _ used to  _ live _ here.”

“Me either, sometimes,” Scourge said. “Wonder what the half-pints are getting into upstairs?”

He didn’t even have time to think about possibilities before Mini-Sonic burst into the room, fuming. He had the young Tails in tow, keeping him close behind him. "What the hell, Scourge."

ooo

Several minutes earlier, the two kids were exploring the third floor of the house. The floor creaked underneath their feet, and dust and dirt billowed up with every step. The candle-lit hallway they were in had cobwebs and spiderwebs littering the ceiling, and the wallpaper was peeling off the walls. Sonic could have sworn he saw a cockroach run by once or twice. He was just glad it wasn't a rat. 

Lil’ T was leading the way, checking inside each and every room for anything remotely interesting. Almost all of the furniture was covered in white sheets, and removing them revealed nothing of interest. All the rooms they'd looked in so far were spare bedrooms and a bathroom (which smelled about as good as one would think). There were three rooms left on the floor that they hadn't checked out.

Sonic nearly ran Tails over as the fox kit stopped walking abruptly. He was staring curiously at a door- one of the three they hadn't entered yet. Sonic looked up at the door, and his eyes widened. There was a faded sign, drawn on construction paper and stuck on the door with tape. It was barely legible anymore, but he thought he could make out the words "Sonics Rume" and a poorly-done crayon drawing of a blue hedgehog.

Sonic frowned. "Is this... Scourge's room?" he wondered aloud. "I think the other Tails said that his name was Sonic, and then he changed it... He is pretty big on that whole 'being his own person' thing, makes sense."

"Come on, let's go look inside!" Tails cheered, barging into the room. Sonic would have tried to stop him, but he was pretty curious himself.

The first thing they noticed about Scourge's room was that all of the furniture was uncovered, and a thick layer of dust coated everything in the room. Small black sneakers littered the floor, as well as scraps of paper. Sonic bent down and picked a few up; they looked like photos of a young Scourge (who looked exactly like Sonic- freaky) with his family. He didn't look very happy, even though he was smiling. It was like it was forced. His parents looked happy, though, from what Sonic could make out. At least, he assumed the other people were Scourge's parents. He had never known his own, so he didn't know what they were supposed to look like.

"Looks like Green had some parent issues," he said. It was obvious enough from how the photos were torn up and thrown everywhere.

"Wow, look at all this!" Tails said, standing on his tiptoes to peer into an old toybox. "There's so many toys in here!"

Sonic walked over to Tails and looked inside the chest. There _were_ a lot of toys, more than Sonic himself had ever had as a kid. "Well, the guy wasn't neglected in the toy department, that's for sure," he muttered. "Come on Tails, we really shouldn't be in here. We should go.”

The fox nodded. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We can always come back later, anyway!” The two left the room, making sure to close the door behind them. There were only two doors left in the hall that they hadn’t looked into yet. “Hey Sonic, let’s try this one next!” Tails said, plowing through the nearest door with little warning.

The room looked like some sort of office or study. There were bookshelves lining one wall, completely filled with old, dusty books about history and politics and law. There was a large mahogany desk, facing front and center, with an old, cracked leather chair parked behind it. Various papers were strewn across the desk, like they had been neat and orderly, but then someone decided to knock them out of their piles. There was a big, tall window behind the desk, which would make whoever sat there appear backlit on a sunny day. Menacing.

"Tails, I think this is the room Scourge said we shouldn't go in," Sonic said, glancing around. "Not sure why though, it just looks like someone's office. His dad's maybe? I dunno." Tails instantly ran to the bookshelf and started scanning it for anything he would find interesting. It didn't look like the hedgehog was going to be able to pull him away if he tried. Exhaling in defeat, he strolled around the room, looking at certificates that adorned the walls. "Jules Hedgehog... Guess that was my dad's name. Or, in this case, my anti-dad, I guess." Either way, Scourge's old man had earned himself a whole mess of awards over the years. Most of them had to do with serving his country, or peacekeeping. It seemed like his anti-dad was a pretty upstanding guy. Which was weird, because he had always assumed his parents had been nice people themselves. Although, he never actually knew them, so he supposed it was possible that his dad could have been a nasty dude. He didn't like to think about it, though.

Done looking at the walls, he turned to the desk. The papers on top of it were the only things in the whole room that seemed out of place. The rest of the office was neat and tidy, but the papers were scattered about every which way. It seemed a little weird, but whatever.

He caught a glimpse of something bright on the floor, clashing with the dark hardwoods. Sonic walked behind the desk to get a better look at it. His eyes went huge at what he saw.

ooo

Fast forward to the present, with the two kids in the living room, standing off against a confused Scourge.

"What the hell is going on?!" Mini-Sonic growled low in his throat. He was glaring daggers at Scourge, who sat up straight in his chair with surprise.

"I thought you two were exploring the house?" the elder Tails asked, looking between the two time travelers and the blue-eyed hog.

"We were," the small hedgehog said. His fists were trembling. "Tails couldn't help himself and went into that room Scourge said to stay out of. The one at the end of the hallway, on the third floor."

"You what?!" Scourge gasped, standing out of his seat. He knew taking the team here was a bad idea, he _knew_ it.

"What was in there? What happened?" the older Tails asked, his voice layered with worry.

"There was..." Sonic swallowed. "A white outline. Of a body, on the floor," he said hoarsely. "And Scourge knew it was there and tried to keep us away."

"Oh, Chaos..." Scourge stammered, all eyes on him. "Look, I can explain, alright?"

“Explain what? That the violent criminal who tried to take over the world coincidentally just  _ happened _ to live in a house where  _ someone _ was killed? Don’t tell me you had nothing to do with this, I know you did!” Sonic yelled, as Scourge oddly found himself at a loss for words. “Was it your dad? ‘Cause it looked like a private study up there, one that belonged to your favorite ‘backstabbing politician.’ You killed him, didn’t you? You killed your dad!!” he shouted.

Scourge stood there in silence. He didn’t know how to respond. His mouth had gone completely dry. Why was he acting this way? He usually revelled in the villainous things he’d done, but he was frozen to the spot.

Lil’ T peeked out from behind Sonic, eyes wide with fear. “No… You didn’t kill anyone, right? Scourge, tell Sonic you didn’t kill nobody!” He looked up at Scourge, but the green hedgehog refused to meet his gaze. “Say something!” the child pleaded, but Scourge remained silent.

The older Tails got up from the couch and stood by the kids, a frown on his face. “I know you didn’t exactly have a happy childhood…” he said quietly, not sure what to believe. “And that you’ve done some pretty terrible things, but…”

“What’re you guys talking about?” Lil’ T said, turning towards his older self and Sonic. “Scourge is my  _ friend, _ an’ he’s real nice! He wouldn’t do anything bad like that, right? C’mon Scourge, tell ‘em they’re wrong!!” Once again, Scourge was silent. The young fox turned and looked up at him again, worry showing on his face. “...Scourge?”

The green one refused to meet his eyes, staring down at the floor instead. “I’m… I’m sorry, kid,” he said quietly. And for once, he actually meant the apology. The fox kit had been the only one who was completely comfortable around him, who thought he was an alright guy. He’d actually begun to kind of enjoy the kid’s company over the past few days. And here he went, breaking Lil’ T’s heart and shattering his trust.

“Oh my gods, you did do it,” the older fox breathed.

Sonic was livid. “I knew it, I knew I couldn’t trust you!” He barked, grabbing Lil’ T’s wrist and pulling him away from Scourge.

“N-no…” the child squeaked, his voice breaking. “No, you’re lying… You’re all lying!”

“Tails, Scourge has been in  _ prison!”  _ Sonic said harshly. “He took over his world, tried to take over Mobius, he’s  _ killed _ people! He killed his own damn father! It’s the truth!!”

“W-what?” the kit looked up at the Moebian, shocked.

_ ‘Right,’ _ Scourge thought, his heart pounding in his throat,  _ ‘he was the only one who didn’t know about the whole Zone Jail thing. Or just the evil thing in general. Shit.’ _ He hesitated, Tails staring up at him. “I... “ he started. He sighed. “He’s telling the truth, Tails.”

That was  _ not _ what the young fox wanted to hear. He turned and bolted out of the room, tears leaking from his eyes. “Kid, wait!” Scourge reached after him, but Sonic blocked his path.

“No,” the blue hog growled, “you stay away from him, you, you… traitor!!”

“Sonic.” The older Tails interrupted him, a stern look on his face. He glared at Scourge. “Why didn’t you tell us about this? What, did you think we wouldn’t find out?!”

“Are you  _ kidding?” _ Scourge asked, dumbfounded. “Why the hell  _ would _ I tell you? Because I love having people  _ hate me?  _ I’m supposed to be tryin’ to earn your trust, right? Does this seem like a fun trust-buildin’ exercise to you?!”

“Well, if you didn’t want us to find out,” Mini-Sonic argued, “then why the hell did you bring us here?!”

“I told you guys not to go in there! What part of ‘off limits’ did you not get?! ‘Sides, it’s not like I have anywhere else to go, everyone else on this damn planet wants me dead!”

“Gee, I wonder why!!”

“Will you two shut up?” Tails said frustratedly, stepping in between them both. “Yelling is getting us nowhere!”

Both hedgehogs quieted down, but were still staring daggers at one another. After a few seconds, Scourge broke contact, and glanced down at his boots. “Look, I… I’m tryin’ to start over, move on from all the stuff I’ve done in my past. Alright? Especially shit like killin’ my old man.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and his voice was uncharacteristically quiet. “That isn’t… I’m not… That was  _ ten years ago _ . You really think I’d do somethin’ like that now? That I-I’m still  _ proud _ of that?” he said, looking up.

The young Sonic didn’t look convinced in the least. He looked like he was about to start yelling again when Tails cut him off.

“I don’t forgive you for this. I can’t. But…”

“But?” Sonic said angrily. “He  _ killed his dad!  _ There’s no  _ but!” _

“But he regrets it,” the fox rebutted. He frowned. “And… what you decide to do next defines you more than what you’ve done in the past. Everyone deserves a second chance. Right?” He looked up at Scourge nervously, and the hedgehog’s expression told him he was right. “What’s passed is past. We all make mistakes, even if it takes us a while to realize it…”

“D-dude!” Sonic gasped, taken aback. “You’re taking his side?!”

Tails nodded slowly and gulped. “Scourge, I think… I think you should go talk to little-me.”

Both hedgehog’s eyes went wide. “W-what?” the green one stammered. “Are you sure?”

_ “No!” _ Sonic protested. “He’s my brother, and I don’t want you going near him!”

“And I’m his older self,” Tails said. “Go.”

Scourge nodded and took off to look for the younger fox before Tails changed his mind. Tails blocked the door after he left so that Sonic couldn’t chase after him, and the two continued to argue about what to do with Scourge until Zonic appeared in the doorway, arms filled with soda and pizzas with a bag of garlic knots balancing on top. He looked at both the kids, confused. “Um, what did I miss?”


	23. A Real Scourge

Scourge grabbed a candle and took the steps two at a time. He had to get to the younger Tails. He had to fix things, make everything right again. The kid actually  _ liked _ him, and  _ stood up for him _ when the younger Sonic accused him of murder.  _ ‘But now he knows the truth,’ _ Scourge grimaced.  _ ‘I just hope he’ll give me another chance, or else I’m back to square one.’ _

The second floor of the house contained no sign of the fox, so the green hog raced up to the third. Upon reaching the top, he could faintly hear the sound of a child trying his best not to cry. Scourge gulped. Did he really mean that much to the kid? Was he… worth crying over? He shook his head. No way, that couldn’t be the case. Tails was probably just scared, finding out that a member of their team was an ex-convict and murderer. That made more sense.

The sound of Lil’ T’s small voice was coming from Scourge’s old bedroom, the door firmly closed. The hedgehog reached a hand up and tentatively knocked on the door. “Kid?” he asked. Tails went dead silent inside. “S’me. I’m not gonna hurt’cha, I just wanna talk.”

“No!” came the young fox’s voice from inside. He sounded stuffed up and upset, though he was trying to hide it. “Go away! I don’t wanna talk to you!”

“Look, just hear me out, okay?” Scourge said, leaning up against the door. “You… you said we were friends, right?” he asked softly, looking down at the flickering candle in his hands. He waited for an answer, for confirmation, but Lil’ T remained silent. His heart sank a bit. “Um, no one’s ever said that about me before, or… or stood up for me like you did back there… I’m sorry, kid. I didn’t want anyone to find out about my dad. I guess I just kind of wanted to forget all about it, too. Been wanting to put a lot of stuff behind me lately… You know I wouldn’t even be here unless Sonic and Z trusted me, right…?”

He waited for Tails to say something, and he heard the child sniffle through the door. “...Why’d you do it though?” he asked, sounding confused.

“Um, that’s kind of… complicated…” the hedgehog sighed. Well, it looked like he was going to have to explain himself. Great. “I might as well start at the beginning, huh? I don’t know if you know this or not, but this world… Nowadays it’s called Moebius, but it used to just be called Anti-Mobius. Everyone on this world is the opposite of their counterpart on your world. If you wanna get real cliche about it, I’m Sonic’s evil twin. Well, used to be. Dunno what I really am anymore… Anyway, my world had been plagued by war for years, since before I was even born. But when I was a kid, we had a period called the Great Peace. My dad was a politician. A really important one too, like, almost presidential levels of important. And he was a big part of that peace, helping to keep the world together any way he could. He was pretty good at it, too. Gotta give credit where it’s due, I guess.

“But politics was about the only thing he was good at. He was a terrible dad. He barely cared about my mom, and she died when I was just a kid. Cancer. Once she was out of the picture, my dad felt even _ less _ obligated to care about me. On good days, he just ignored me. On bad days… He’d call me useless, make fun of me, hit me even. Most of the time, he just forgot I was even there. All I wanted was to play catch with him on the weekend, have him read me a bedtime story, share a meal at the dinner table with the guy. I just got constantly brushed aside. I just wanted a little attention, a little respect, but I didn't get a damn thing. Yeah, I had plenty of toys an’ stuff, but what good are those when you don't got anyone to play with?”

Scourge leaned his back against the door and slid down until he was sitting on the ground, his knees close to his chest. Tails made no sound of response, so he kept going.

“It got to the point where I hated my dad, and the Great Peace, too. I just associated peace with  _ him _ , and… yeah, it’s not really a surprise that I turned out pretty bad.” He dragged his sunglasses off the top of his head and inspected their frames absentmindedly. "Anyway, once I was about ten or eleven or so, the Great Peace had fallen apart. My dad did everything he could to keep it together, but Moebians just can't really handle the concept of world peace like you Mobians can. And I thought, finally, now that the Peace was over, maybe my dad would wanna spend time with me. Well, it was a nice thought, anyway. He was spendin’ more time away than ever, travelin’ around the world to try and stitch back together what he'd worked so hard for. I couldn't stand it. So, one night, when he was actually home for once in his life, I went into his study and I... well, you know." His voice waivered a little bit on that last part. He had never told any of this to anyone. Thinking about his past never hurt quite as much as talking about it. Telling someone else made it all the more real.

“I did a lot of bad stuff after that. Started a gang, robbed people, tried to make everyone as miserable as I was. Eventually I managed to take over Moebius. Sonic stopped me when I tried to take over your world, and he and Zonic sent me to prison in the No Zone. And I just kind of… came to the realization that all the bad stuff I’d done was for nothin’. At the end of it all, no one respected me, no one cared. I’d wasted my life bein’ bad, and all I got out of it was my ass stuck behind bars. And now I can’t undo what I’ve done, I can’t take it back, no matter how much I might want to.

“Look, I'm not tryin’ to justify what I did, I'm not tryin’ to make it sound like it was right. It wasn't. It was a fucked up thing to do, and I wish I'd never done it. And... I didn’t mean to lie to you or nothin’. It’s just that you’re the only person I ever met who thought I was an alright dude, and… I guess I just wanted to keep it that way.”

Scourge fell silent, closing his eyes. Had he really just said all that aloud? He could barely believe it himself. Scourge the Hedgehog, former King of Moebius, making a heartfelt apology towards a little kid. This was certainly a first for him. Did he do a good job? Was Lil’ T going to forgive him?

But the fox had nothing to say. They sat in awkward silence on opposite sides of the bedroom door. Realizing he wouldn’t get an answer after a few minutes of quiet, Scourge stood up. “Zonic should be back soon with pizza, if you’re hungry,” the hedgehog said, pulling away from the door. He lingered for a moment, waiting if Lil’ T had anything to say or if he would come out from inside the bedroom. But nothing happened.  _ ‘Isn’t this supposed to be the part where he says “It’s okay, I forgive you”? Isn’t that how this works?’ _ Scourge thought, stepping away. He apologized, he  _ meant it, _ so why wasn’t the problem fixed? Was there something he was missing? He started slowly down the stairs, each one creaking under his weight.  _ ‘Maybe… Maybe he just needs some time to think. I probably would, if I were him. But then what am I supposed to do now? Is this… out of my hands? This sucks.’ _

He made it down to the first floor, where he found Zonic sitting on the steps with a box of pizza open in front of him. Judging by the yelling coming from the living room, the older Tails and younger Sonic were still arguing.  _ ‘Arguing over me,’ _ Scourge reminded himself.

“Oh, hey, there you are,” Zonic said, turning his head to face the green hedgehog. “I heard that your little homicide came to light while I was gone.”

Scourge paused, still a few steps above where the teen was sitting. “What? Did… did you  _ know? _ This whole time, you  _ knew _ about this? About my dad?!” He couldn’t believe it. Zonic knew the whole time, and hadn’t ever even mentioned it? Why?

“Dude, yeah. I’m a Zone Cop. Emphasis on cop. I’ve seen your record.” He took a bite of pizza, not the least bit fazed by Scourge’s recently uncovered past. Scourge waited for him to elaborate further, but he said nothing more.

“So…  _ How the hell are you so calm about this?!” _ the older hedgehog exclaimed. This was a  _ murder _ they were talking about. How could Zonic be so relaxed about this whole thing?

“Scourge,” the No-Zoner said, putting down his pizza, “Sonic and I got you out of prison knowing full well that you’ve done bad things in the past. Horrible things, even. I’ve been looking past all of that stuff, why wouldn’t I look past this, too?”

Scourge blinked. “Huh… Not a bad point. I hadn’t really thought about it like that.” He came down the remaining few steps, having calmed down a little bit. Zonic slid to the side to make room for him, patting the bottom step and inviting him to sit. The green hog accepted the offer and sat down with a stress-filled shrug. “I just wish the others were as willing to look past what I did as you are.”

Zonic picked up his pizza again and glanced between Scourge and the door to the living room. “Well, from what I’ve been hearing,” he said, taking a bite, “the older Tails  _ does _ want to look past it, it’s just hard, y’know? Everyone’s just gonna need some time.”

“Cap, this is  _ me _ we’re talkin’ about. These guys’ll take any chance they can get to hate me, Sonic especially.”

“The younger Sonic just wants to prove that he was right about you all along,” the smaller hedgehog shook his head. “Calling you out for something you did ten-ish years ago and  _ regret  _ isn’t a very strong argument against you, in my opinion. He’ll see that eventually. And the older Sonic hasn’t been himself lately, as evidenced by my lip,” he said, slowing off the injury he’d sustained earlier that day. The broken skin had scabbed up nicely. “I wouldn’t worry about him right now. I mean, it’s  _ Sonic. _ He  _ wants  _ you to be on our side, he doesn’t want to hate you. And we’ve all seen how Tails’ younger self has been buddying up with you these past few days. I… have a feeling he’s a forgiving kid.”

“You think so?”

“This is the most time I’ve ever spent with Sonic and Tails Prime. I know them personally as well as you do. You tell me.” Zonic finished off his remaining bit of pizza before reaching into the box for another slice, eating while Scourge thought.

_ ‘Maybe this whole thing about my dad  _ will _ just blow over… Well, at the very least, Z seems to still be okay with me, and Tails is trying… if anything--’ _

“Oh, here,” the No-Zoner interrupted Scourge’s train of thought, handing him a white paper bag. “Got your garlic knots.”

“‘m not hungry,” the grumpy hedgehog mumbled and shook his head.

“No one’s hungry,” Zonic said sternly. “Not after everything that’s happened today. Not after Mobius got torn apart like that. But we’ve all barely eaten in the past two days, and our job’s not done yet. We all need to eat.” He forced the bag of warm food into Scourge’s hands, not taking no for an answer.

“Alright, alright,  _ mom,”  _ Scourge rolled his eyes, pulling a knot out of the bag and taking a bite. As soon as the tasty bit of bread hit his tastebuds, his appetite ignited, growing rapidly. He kept forgetting how good food tasted outside of prison.

“Y’know, I’ve realized you guys all call me ‘mom’ a lot,” Zonic observed as the Moebian chowed down relentlessly on his dinner. “Well, at the very least it’s happened more than once.”

“Well, you can be a  _ smidge _ protective of all of us. Telling us all to remember to eat is just the cherry on the cake,” the green one grinned, licking salt off of his fingers. “‘Course, not like my mom ever did anything like that, but still. It’s the principle of the matter. Lesse, you’ve bandaged up my head and made sure I didn’t puke everywhere, kept us from creating time paradoxes a few times, kept us focused, provided transportation. Yep, you’re a regular soccer mom with a teleporting minivan.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve finally found my true calling in life. Zonic the Hedgehog, professional transdimensional mom. It all makes sense now!” the Zone Cop smiled, sarcastically throwing his hands up into the air.

The two hedgehogs shared a laugh, finally enjoying themselves a little bit for the first time that day, when suddenly the argument in the living room exploded into a shouting match. The two on the stairs were immediately quiet. Sonic and Tails were both yelling over each other, so it was hard to make out what they were saying, but it wasn’t long before the small hedgehog burst out of the room and raced upstairs, the gust of wind in his wake nearly knocking over the still-mostly-full box of pizza. He vanished up the steps within an instant, and Scourge had a strong feeling he was going to pay a visit to the younger Tails.

The green hedgehog’s mood had immediately soured as he was reminded of the predicament he was in. “Great,” he scowled, “just great. Now Tails’s gonna have a talk with Mr. Hates-My-Guts… I can tell you right now who’s side he’s going to take.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Lil’ T is a smart kid,” Zonic said as lightning flashed outside. “And from a tactical negotiations standpoint, you spoke to him first. That puts you at an advantage.”

“Can it really be called tactical negotiations when he’s only six?” the Moebian raised an eyeridge. He sighed. “I  _ knew _ bringin’ everyone here when I just wanted to leave my past  _ alone _ was a stupid idea. Letting the kids explore around was even stupider. I  _ knew _ somethin’ like this would happen, I’m such a fuckin’  _ idiot--” _

“No,” the Zone Cop stopped him. “Look, this is my fault, okay?”

“Wait, what?”

“I was the one who opened up the portal that brought us all here. I could have easily taken us to any other Zone, but the only ones in my head at the time were No-Zone and Moebius. I was selfish. I knew that if the Time Eater decided to follow us, that whatever world I took us to was at risk… so I ‘ported us to your world, not wanting to put my own on the chopping block. I’m sorry.”

“Huh. Well, thanks a lot for that, jerkface,” Scourge jokingly  _ biff _ ed Zonic on the back of the head. “But you make a good point, losing No Zone like we lost Mobius would probably be fucking catastrophic… Frankly, we’re probably both equally guilty for this whole thing,” he said, picking at a splinter sticking out of the stair. “I knew I should have ripped that tape in the study up years ago, just in case, but… I mean, who would have ever thought I’d bring you all here? I never thought I’d ever come here again, let alone that I would want to keep my old man’s death a  _ secret. _ I used to be  _ proud _ of that. Damn… I’ve gone soft.”

“Hard to believe we only teamed up with Sonic, what, four days ago?”

“Shit, that’s it? I thought it was at least a week. Damn. I swear, the good vibes coming off all you guys must be contagious or somethin’.”

“Is the ex-con startin’ to feel the loooove?” Zonic sang, trying to get Scourge back into a better mood again.

“Gods, don’t make me sick,” the older hedgehog gagged, a smirk gracing his face for a split second.

“Haha! We have had some good times though. We played video games a few times, I vaguely nursed your concussion. It almost felt like we were friends once or twice.”

_ ‘Now Z’s usin’ the f-word? Yeesh, he’s gone soft, too.’ _ Scourge shuddered. “Again: gagsville. You’re tolerable, at best.”

“Really? I buy you garlic knots and all I get is  _ tolerable? _ I thought I’d at least leveled up to  _ acceptable _ by now,” the teen said, levels of sass increasing.

“Don’t push me, kid. I’ll gladly kick your ass right off the friendship ladder, right back down into arch-nemesis hell-territory.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Mmmmmmmmmyyyyyyyeah,” the green one said, slowly turning his head to the side and allowing his sunglasses to fall crookedly over his eyes. Zonic laughed.

“Aw, gee willikers mister, and here I was hoping I’d get to be your bestest friend!” he joked, speaking in an old-timey radio voice. He leaned back on the stairs until he was lying down on the sloped surface. Scourge rolled his eyes.

“Aw, shucks,” he replied, resting his elbows on his knees.

They sat on the stairs quietly, the conversation having reached a lull. The could hear the rain pounding on the house, and the house creaking in return. The place finally felt quiet again. No yelling, no crying, no fighting. At least, none within earshot. It wasn’t quite calm, as the air was still full of tension throughout the house, but it was as close to calm as they could probably get. A lot had happened that day. Too much. Everyone felt like a failure for letting the Time Eater claim Mobius, for letting Sonic’s scar spread so much, even for letting Zonic de-age in the first place. None of it should have happened. They let the Time Eater get too far, and now the multiverse was going to pay for it.

Thunder cracked outside, lightning flashing in tandem. The two hedgehogs heard Tails yelp quietly from the other room. The door to the living room opened, and the fox emerged, looking frazzled. He tried to quickly compose himself when he saw that Scourge and Zonic were sitting on the steps. “I, um,” he said, fur standing on end, “I’m gonna go check how Sonic’s doing. He hasn’t come down since we got here, so, um. Yeah.” He took off up the stairs, twisting namesakes propelling him forward at high speed.

“Poor kid,” Zonic said softly when the fox was out of earshot. “First Mobius, then the whole business with you and your dad, then arguing with his brother...and a thunderstorm to top it all off.”

“Yeah, today’s sucked for everyone,” Scourge muttered, stealing a glance up the stairs. “Can’t wait for it to be over… Actually, you know what? I’m done with today. I’m going to bed. Tomorrow can’t get here fast enough,” he said, standing up and stretching his back. He walked over to the living room door, pausing as he went to open it. He turned back and offered Zonic a wave. “Thanks, Z,” he said, ducking into the living room.

“Thanks for what?” Zonic asked as the green hedgehog disappeared inside. He didn’t get an answer, and he didn’t think he was going to get one if he asked again. The Zone Cop sighed. “You’re welcome, Scourge.”

ooo

Scourge twisted and turned on the couch later that night, having found himself back in the dreaded hallway of his dreams. “I’m back here again,” he groaned, reaching up to his throat to find an inhibitor collar securely fastened to him. “As if this day wasn’t bad enough already, now I gotta deal with this shit… Why does this keep happening? And what the hell is going to happen this time?”

As if on command, a door opened on the wall to his right, the only door in the hall. It was open just a crack, and it looked totally pitch black inside. “Maybe I shouldn’t have asked,” Scourge gulped, taking a step back. Doors were never a good thing in this place, he’d learned that already. What would be inside this one? He wasn’t too sure he wanted to find out. Maybe he could just stay in the hall and wait it out--

Without warning, the door blasted all the way open, and the blackness inside started sucking everything in as if it were a black hole. Scourge’s feet were pulled out from under him, and he was dragged into the doorway too quickly for him to react.

He was surrounded by darkness on all sides. He was standing on a solid floor, but he had no idea where he was. He stumbled around in the dark, unable to feel anything around him. “Hello?” the hedgehog called out hesitantly, before freezing in place. That… wasn’t his voice. It sounded more like the younger Sonic’s than it did his own.  _ ‘Oh, don’t tell me I’m pullin’ a Zonic here,’ _ he thought nervously.  _ ‘I don’t wanna be a kid! No no no no no no!!’ _ He wished that he could see himself to see if it was really true, but it was too dark to make anything out. His hands certainly felt smaller at any rate, and as he used them to grab at his head and face, he realized there wasn’t any way he could still be his normal height. “I-I’m still dreaming, right? Please tell me I’m still dreaming,” he said in a harsh whisper, cringing at his own voice. “Shit, am I missing a tooth? Jeez, how little am I?”

Suddenly, he could see; as if the lights had been turned on, but his eyes took no time at all to adjust. Scourge immediately knew where he was. It was his childhood bedroom, but it seemed way bigger, and everything seemed new instead of old and dusty. He dashed up to the mirror hanging from his wall. He stared at his reflection wide-eyed. He was barely able to recognize himself. His eyes were black, like they were when he was younger. But his fur was still green, and he looked positively tiny. He couldn’t have been older than eight or nine. The inhibitor collar was still tight around his neck, and his chest retained its II-shaped scar.

“This is too weird,” he gasped, stepping back from the mirror while clenching and unclenching his small fists. He didn’t like this. It might’ve just been another bad dream, but everything felt too solid, too real. It almost could’ve been real life, if the Time Eater had come to Moebius and decided to mess with Scourge and his old house.

The small hedgehog heard shouting coming from the hallway outside his bedroom door, and he froze. “Sonic?! Sonic, get out here, now!!” the owner of the voice yelled forcefully, pounding on the door. Scourge flinched and stepped backwards towards the opposite wall.

_ ‘No no no no no, not Dad, not Dad!’ _ he thought frantically, ducking behind his bed as the door slammed open. His father entered the room, his pose intimidating and his expression furious. Blood was gushing out of the fresh hole in his forehead.

“Can’t you do ANYTHING right?!” he bellowed, his voice impossibly loud. “It’s just one mistake after another with you! You couldn’t take over the world, you couldn’t  _ save  _ the world, what the hell good are you?!” He forced his way through the bedroom, sending Scourge into a near panic. The young hedgehog scrambled back until he was backed up against the wall, his heart pounding in his chest. “You even killed me, shot your own father right in the head, and now you’re saying even  _ that _ was a mistake!!”

“G-get away from me!” the small hedgehog said, trying to stand his ground but his voice coming out shaky. “You don’t know anything!!”

“What don’t I know?” his father asked, now towering over him. “That you think your so-called “friends” will forgive you? That this’ll all just blow over?” He grabbed Scourge by the collar, lifting him into the air so they were at eye level. “Not even in your  _ dreams _ , you stupid brat.”

“No! You’re wrong!” Scourge cried, kicking and trying uselessly to loosen his dad’s grip on the inhibitor collar. His heart was pounding in his throat, he was scared out of his mind. “You’re wrong, let me go, let me go, let me go, you’re wrong…” he fought, but his father was unfazed. The man seemed even larger than ever-- or did Scourge feel smaller? His bedroom seemed enormous now, and looking down gave him vertigo. It was like he was at the top of a skyscraper. His old man grinned horribly, blood still dripping from his skull.

“You’ve been alone your whole life, Sonic,” he said coldly. “And you know as well as I do that that won’t be changing anytime soon.” Before Scourge could work up the courage to argue, he felt his dad’s grip on the collar around his neck weaken. He was falling, plummeting towards the floor. Wind was rushing past his face. The floor was getting closer. Something was ripping apart the ground, huge chunks being sent into the sky, heading straight towards him. Under the flying bits of his bedroom floor was the Time Eater, waiting for him at the bottom. Mouth wide open, laughing, ready to consume him like it consumed Mobius. He was going to die,  _ he was going to-- _

Scourge hit the floor with a dull  _ thump, _ having fallen off the couch in his sleep. He scrambled to a sitting position, breathing heavy. His heart was pounding, hands sweating, eyes darting around the room so he could get a grip on his surroundings.  _ ‘I’m not dead,’ _ he quickly realized.  _ ‘I’m not dead, and I’m not a kid. It was all just another dream. It wasn’t real.’  _ He held his hands in front of his face, the dim light from the dwindling fire barely allowing him to see. His hands were indeed normal size, and upon feeling his face, he confirmed that he was an adult again.  _ ‘It felt so real,’ _ he shivered.

A snore suddenly erupted in the room. Scourge jumped, curling into himself. He realized a second later that the sound had come from Zonic, who was still sleeping relatively soundly in one of the room’s armchairs. The young teenager seemed small, cradled in the chair with his back facing the green hedgehog. Scourge felt his heart drop a bit.

_ ‘Does he feel tiny? Like everything else is huge, everyone else is a giant?’ _ he thought weakly, remembering the dream.  _ ‘Dad… He was wrong, wasn’t he? The others… Zonic and Tails, and Sonic, they won’t give up on me that easy… I hope.’ _ He had a dark feeling bubbling up in his gut, causing him to feel achy and nauseous. He didn’t know what he could do, what he  _ should _ do. What if the rest of the gang hated him now? Well, for one thing, it would be really hard to work with them to stop the Time Eater. He was one of the only hedgehogs still fully capable, wasn’t he? The older Sonic was a complete wreck, and while Zonic wasn’t a bad fighter, he still hadn’t completely gotten used to his smaller body. His reach wasn’t as far as he was used to, and he was more accustomed to using guns than his fists. The younger Sonic was still plenty able to fight, but he was just a kid, and wasn’t as strong as Scourge was.  _ ‘If we want to defeat the Time Eater, if we want the best chance of saving Mobius, they’ll have to stick with me. But I would like the rest of this shitty quest to be as not-terrible as possible, thank you. The less these guys hate me, the better this will go for everyone. Plus...’   _ He didn’t even like to admit it to himself, but he felt better when he was with people who didn’t want him dead, with people who seemed to like him.

_ ‘I just want this to stop. I’m done with the nightmares, I’m done with being haunted by this shit in my sleep. All I want is some  _ rest,’ he thought wearily, climbing back onto the couch. Rain was still pounding on the windows, and the house felt cold. He looked into the small fire, reduced nearly to embers. He stood up, walking towards the fireplace. He built the fire back up, until eventually it was crackling with warmth and light again. He still shivered though, and pulled his jacket closer around himself as he sat back down on the sofa.  _ ‘Just… please let Dad be wrong. I don’t wanna be alone again.’ _

It took him a while to fall asleep again, but when he finally did, it was a light, restless sleep; the kind where, upon waking, he was unsure if he’d slept at all.

ooo

Zonic breathed slowly, in and out. He held his arms out steady and planted his feet firmly on the ground. He stood as still as he could and pulled the trigger.

_ BANG!  _ The small, condensed blast of energy shot out of the barrel and flew through the air, missing the target by about two feet. The gun pushed him backwards, sending him stumbling. He regained his posture and rubbed his arms. They were starting to get sore. His young muscles weren’t used to the recoil. It was hurting him and messing with his aim.

He grunted. He’d been out here doing target practice for the past hour, and it was well into the morning now. Normally, he would have been able to hit the tin can resting on the tree stump without even thinking about it. Heck, just the other day he was landing headshots while shooting from a moving roller coaster. He never realised just how much he relied on his muscle memory.

He reloaded the gun again, turned off the safety, and took aim. He steadied his breathing and fired. The energy bullet got a bit closer to the can this time, but there was still no contact. He tried again. Another miss, more pain shooting up his arms. He shot it again, and again, and again, seething with frustration, until he emptied the clip. Only one of the blasts grazed the can, the rest missed. He threw the pistol on the ground, stomped over to the tin can, and kicked it angrily off the stump.

Scourge opened the front door of the mansion, drawn out by the sound of rapid gunfire. It was only 10 in the morning, and while he’d woken up a while ago, he had only just gotten up and let the others know he was awake. “Yo, Chrome Dome,” he yawned, walking over to the side of the lawn where Zonic had his makeshift shooting range set up. Seeing the smoldering gun and the in-tact can, he smirked. “If y’need a bigger target, I got some family portraits in the house you can shoot up.”

“I shouldn’t  _ need _ a bigger target,” Zonic replied, his frustration rising. “But with my muscle memory gone, and the fact that my body can barely handle the recoil of this thing, I can’t even hit a freakin’ can at fifty feet.” He sat down on the tree stump, crossing his arms and hunching forward.

“So what?” Scourge shrugged. “You got yer speed, that’ll do fer now. And it’s not like you’ll be like this forever, Sonic’d die before he let this whole ‘teenager’ thing be permanent for you.”

“I… I know. You’re right.” Zonic rubbed his temples, looking somewhat annoyed. “I’m just-  _ really _ frustrated that I can’t get this. I should be getting this! I  _ know _ how to do this, I  _ have _ done this! And all of a sudden, I just can’t. It  _ sucks. _ Being stuck in a kid’s body  _ sucks,  _ dude. Speed or no speed.”

“I can imagine,” Scourge said, shivering slightly. “I’m glad it’s not me. Look, I’m goin’ for a run. I gotta get outta this house fer a while.”

The young teen nodded. “Understandable. Don’t be gone too long, you don’t want the younger Sonic to have any more reasons not to trust you.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Scourge frowned. He took off, leaving a sonic boom in his wake.

The clouds from the last night’s storm hadn’t yet passed, blocking the morning sun. The ground was damp, the grass still wet, and the air was still heavily laden with moisture. The green hedgehog didn’t mind. He wasn’t really in the mood for sunshine, anyway.

_ ‘I’m seriously glad that me bein’ a kid again was just a bad dream. I don’t think I could handle somethin’ like that… I could barely handle the dream. Those things are starting to get out of hand. Every night with this shit… What’s goin’ on with me? Not only the nightmares, but the mirror maze in Twinkle Park...’ _ he thought back, remembering the haunting reflections from a few days ago.  _ ‘Feels like an eternity ago, that Sonic showed up in those mirrors instead of me… Am I goin’ crazy or somethin’? I’m startin’ to crack?’ _ He sighed and shook his head. He had things to do, he had to push those thoughts out of his mind for the time being.

He was well out of sight of his old house by now. He looked around for a few seconds to get his bearings straight, and then he headed west towards the city of Mobotropolis. His old hideout was there and, unless looters managed to get to it, so was a backup stash of Anarchy Beryl from his short-lived reign as king. While Moebius’ versions of the Chaos Emeralds were just about as powerful, Anarchy Beryl was extremely volatile and hard to control in comparison. It might not help at all against the Time Eater, but he needed  _ something  _ to do with himself. He’d have to be careful to avoid being spotted in the city; he wasn’t particularly well-liked, and it wasn’t widely known that he was out on parole. But he needed an excuse to get out of the house, to get away from the others for a bit. He wasn’t used to always being around people. He needed space to think.

After about ten minutes of running, the city was finally in sight. The place looked like a wreck. It made sense, since Scourge had practically enslaved the population last year. Going unseen would probably be in his best interest. It didn’t matter he was trying to save them now, the hedgehog doubted that the city folk would be hospitable towards him.

He dashed into the city, keeping mainly to the back alleys and rooftops. The whiff of pollution hung in the air, and a car alarm went off in the distance. Scourge turned right, making his way through the gridded layout of the city. The route was burned into his mind from having gone to the hideout so many times, which was good because he was running too fast to read the street signs.

He reached the old hideout in a matter of minutes. In classic old-school bad guy fashion, the base was located in an old boarded up factory. Scourge didn’t spend any time reminiscing-- his old team wasn’t worth getting nostalgic about-- and kicked down the door with ease. It fell off its hinges and clattered to the ground. He flipped the light switch, and a few of the lights flickered to life, dimly lighting the room. Well, he expected as much. He scraped the mud off his shoes and stepped into the abandoned building. He knew his stash of Anarchy Beryl shouldn’t be too far from the entrance, but he couldn’t sense anything. That didn’t give him much hope.

He walked into what he used to refer to as his “throne room,” back before he ever sat on an actual throne. The room had concrete floors, walls, and ceiling, and an old tattered rug was in the center, leading to a fancy but flimsy armchair at the back. The hedgehog groaned. No wonder no one used to take him seriously, this looked like a little kid’s playhouse.

He heard something crash in the next room. His ears perked up. He wasn’t alone.

“Who’s there?” he yelled, feeling tense. The door to the next room opened, the intruder stepping out. Scourge’s jaw dropped. Standing before him was a red fox, a girl, wearing a black tank top, jeans, and combat boots. “ _ Fiona?”  _ Of all the people he thought he might run into, his girlfriend was not one of them. Once Sonic’s friend, she had betrayed the blue blur to run with Scourge and his crew instead. She had become the anti-hog’s first steady girlfriend, and she was right by his side as he took over Moebius. While the rest of Scourge’s old team turned against himm shortly after, Fiona had managed to escape, and Scourge ended up being the only one to go to Zone Jail. He hadn’t seen or heard from her since-- well, until now.

"Scourge?!" she gasped, not seeming happy at all to see him. "So it  _ is _ true then!"

"Woah woah wait, what's true?" the hedgehog stammered, having expected an “I miss you, how did you escape prison” type of conversation. Somehow, he didn’t think this encounter would be that friendly.

"That you got out of prison, with  _ Sonic's _ help no less!” Fiona spat, saying Sonic’s name like it was poison. “It's a damn good thing I heard the rumor, 'cause I was literally  _ two days away _ from risking my ass to bust you out!" she yelled, jabbing a finger angrily at him as she advanced. Scourge's eyes widened.

"You... were comin' to get me?" he said, surprised.

"A'course I was! But no, you can just leave and hang out with your new friend Sonic, and not even  _ tell me _ you got out of the joint! I was real close to gettin' thrown in jail for nothin', all 'cause you wanted to play hero!" She swung a fist towards Scourge's face, the hedgehog barely ducking out of the way in time.

"Woah! Fi, calm down!" the green one said, taking a few steps back.

"You  _ traitor! _ " the fox growled, spinning and kicking him in the gut. Scourge stumbled backwards, the kick not quite enough to knock him over. "You used to be the baddest guy in the multiverse! And you just leave your crown, leave  _ me _ to rot?!"

"I was never the baddest  _ anything! _ I was a fucking  _ joke! _ " The hedgehog dodged and weaved through all her attacks, but not returning any. Fiona was being an unreasonable bitch, sure, but he didn't want to hurt his probably-ex-girlfriend. "No one feared me in Zone Jail, no one respected me! I was a  _ punching bag _ and a  _ laughing stock!" _

But Fiona didn't care. She swept her leg behind him, tripping him and sending him to the ground. While Scourge was dazed, she picked up a rusty folding chair and launched it at him, aiming straight at his head.

Luckily, the hedgehog scrambled away in the nick of time.  _ ‘Holy shit, she’s really serious!’  _ He thought, getting to his feet.  _ ‘Is this bitch trying to kill me?!’ _ As she glared at him with death in her eyes, he concluded that yes, it was entirely possible that Fiona wanted to kill him. She ran up and tried for another punch, which was easily dodged. “Can’t we just talk about this?”

“Fine! Talk!” she yelled, grabbing the collar of Scourge’s jacket and dragging him closer. “Why the hell would you go with  _ Sonic _ of all people? It  _ can’t  _ just be that “get out of jail free” card he waved in front of your face.  _ Why?”  _ There was a note of betrayal in her voice.

“I faced the facts, babe,” Scourge said, his eyes narrowing. “Bein’ evil got me nowhere. I was  _ miserable. _ Something had to change.”

“So you decided to leave behind everything you ever worked for? You brought an entire planet to it’s  _ knees,  _ Scourge!” She released her grip on his jacket and pushed him away. “Everyone was bowing to you-- to  _ us!  _ We were the perfect team! The only reason you lost to Sonic in the first place was because he tricked you, and you know he can’t do that twice. You could be  _ great _ again, you could  _ rule _ again--”

“Maybe I don’t want to!” Scourge yelled back, getting frustrated. It was true, he was  _ powerful.  _ With Sonic weak and the Zone Cops scrambled, he could conquer the entire multiverse without a problem, aside from the Time Eater. But he found himself thinking of Lil’ T, crying his eyes out the night before. “Maybe… Maybe I found somethin’ better than bein’ King.”

Fiona’s death glare strengthened. “Don’t tell me you and Sonic are all buddy-buddy now,” she said, sounding disgusted. “I don’t believe this, that my mean green man is stupid enough to fall for all that fuckin’ hero talk…!” She turned and paced away, shaking her head. “I was  _ with  _ them once, remember? I’m from Mobius, I was on Sonic’s side! But Chaos forbid you make  _ one _ little mistake, let them find out about your past, because then it’s  _ all over.” _

Scourge thought his heart skipped a beat.  _ ‘Let them find out about your past and it’s over… Could… Could she have a point?’ _

“Judging from the look on your face, I’d say you know what I’m talking about,” the vixen said, looking him up and down. “Believe me when I say this. You’re their little pet project, babe. They don’t trust you, they just want to see if they can turn you good. They want to prove a point, or some shit. They don’t  _ care.  _ They never care.” Her voice was cold, her words twisting and manipulative. She  _ needed _ Scourge back, for both their sakes-- at least so she believed.

The hedgehog looked her right in the eyes. “Ya might be right about that, Fi,” he said with a nod. “But even if Sonic and the others don’t give a shit about me, I know one little kid who does.” He clenched his fists. “I’m  _ done _ with prison, I’m  _ done _ bein’ a bad guy, and… And I guess I’m done with you.”

Fiona’s expression went from hopeful to furious in about the space of a second. She swung at him again and again, screaming obscenities. “Out of all the girls you ever messed around with,” she yelled, “ _ I  _ was the only one who cared! I helped you be  _ incredible!  _ I was supposed to be your  _ queen!! _ ” One of her fists connected with Scourge’s jaw, sending him reeling backwards to the floor.

“Why the hell did I even put up with you?!” Scourge blurted, holding his hand to where he got hit. “You’re a freakin’ lunatic! You psychotic bitch!”

“Selfish asshole!” She went to kick him, but Scourge grabbed her foot and pulled hard, sending her flying over him and to the floor.

The hedgehog jumped to his feet and raced towards his old quote-unquote throne, where he knew his old stash of Anarchy Beryl would be hidden. He was not in the mood to fight, and he knew there wasn’t much he could do to Fiona that wouldn’t seriously hurt her. She was strong, but nowhere near super-powered. He hated to run from a fight, but maybe that was best right now.

He kicked the old chair aside and opened up the small trap door hidden underneath it. Aside from spiderwebs, the thing was completely empty. Just as he thought. And he hadn’t sensed any of the stuff on Fiona, so she didn’t take it. It probably got looted months ago.

A swift kick to the back reminded him of Smalls’ presence. He collided hard with the floor of the rec yard-- no, that wasn’t right. He shook his head, and the inside of the abandoned factory came back into view.  _ ‘What the hell?’ _ he thought, slightly panicked and disoriented. What was going on? Where was he? The Zone Jail rec yard blinked back into view, and Scourge felt someone grab at the back of his collar to try and lift him up. He heard a deep, threatening laugh ring in his ears as he saw other inmates close in. They were all waiting for a chance to beat him to a pulp, hoping there would be enough of him left after Smalls softened him up.  _ “NO!” _ he cried, reflexively curling up, trying to get away from the overgrown purple cat. He unintentionally spin-dashed, ramming his assailant into the floor and running them over before he himself crashed into the wall of the rec yard. He put a crack in the cement, small dusty chunks of the wall crumbling on him. His eyes were wide open and darting around the room. Where was he? He was so confused, there was no way he could be back in Zone Jail but he felt as if he really were  _ there-- _

The hedgehog closed his eyes, waiting for Smalls, Fiona,  _ whoever _ to come and keep wailing on him, but nothing happened. Wherever he really was, it was quiet. He opened his eyes, back in his old base again.  _ ‘Okay, what the fuck was that,’ _ he wondered, breathing shakily. He looked around for Fiona, and found her lying face-down on the floor.  _ ‘Shit, that was her?! Fuck fuck fuck fuck.’ _ He pulled himself to his feet, which was difficult because he was still disoriented. Scourge stumbled over to her side, kneeling down next to her. He flipped her onto her back. She was knocked cold, but definitely still alive. She didn’t appear to be hurt too bad overall, which was a cause for relief.  _ ‘Guess I must’a slammed her into the floor… I panicked, I thought she was Smalls… What  _ was _ that? I thought I was in Zone Jail, but I was here the whole time...’ _ He held his head in his hands, a headache beginning to form in his temples. He shuddered.  _ ‘This is bad. I’m seein’ shit again… What’s the matter with me? I… I gotta get outta here. Before anything like that happens again. She’ll be fine. Just go, go go go.’ _ He slowly rose to his feet, his mind a complete jumble. It took him a second to find his footing again, but as soon as he did, he blasted out of there without looking back. He raced out of the city as fast as he could, honestly not caring if anyone saw him or not. He needed space, and he needed it now.

He tried to keep his mind focused exclusively on running. One foot in front of the other. Breathe in, breathe out. Don’t hit anyone or anything. But other thoughts kept worming their way into his head, such as  _ ‘Am I going insane?’ _ and  _ ‘Was Fiona right about no one really trusting me?’ _ He refused to dwell on them until he was far from the city, but that was becoming increasingly difficult.

The hedgehog slowed to a stop a few miles outside the city. His parent’s house was nowhere in sight, but he didn’t think it could be that far. Confident that no one would find him, he collapsed, kneeling down in the soft grass. His hands were trembling, and he balled them into fists and shoved them in his jacket pockets.  _ ‘I… I think that was some sort of flashback,’ _ he thought, trying to stay calm. He didn’t need to panic again.  _ ‘At least, I’m not sure what else to call it. Because it was way more than just seeing things, that’s for sure.’  _ He took slow, shuddery breaths. This was  _ bad.  _ First the nightmares, then the hallucinations in Twinkle Park’s mirror maze, now this? What next? He was getting worse by the day, and he didn’t even know what was wrong with him, let alone how to fix it.  _ ‘I’m goin’ nuts. Everyone else is losin’ a grip because of timey-wimey bullshit, but I’m just straight up going crazy.’ _

Speaking of crazy, Fiona was on a whole ‘nother level than usual. Yeah, she was usually a violent jerk; that’s why Scourge liked her in the first place. But those feelings had never been so strong, and never directed _at_ _him_ before. She was _furious_ at having been inadvertently turned against. Whether she was actually upset, or was just angry because she’d only been using Scourge to gain power, the hedgehog couldn’t tell. It was probably a little bit of both. _‘Well, she’s evil for a reason, I guess,’_ he thought with a shudder. It was so weird. It wasn’t long ago that Scourge was the more ruthless, the more villainous of the two. It felt weird to refer to Fiona as ‘evil’, but to not use the term to describe himself.

He sighed and shook his head. He should probably head back to the house soon. It was well past noon now, and he could do with a nap. But at the same time, he wasn’t at all looking forward to the younger Sonic’s threatening glares, or to the younger Tails being terrified of him. Maybe he could just hang out on the roof and ignore everyone. He wasn’t sure he believed Fiona when she said that everyone was playing him for a chump; they were all too nice for that. That still didn’t mean he wanted to talk to anyone right then.

What he really wanted was something to take his mind off the various issues plaguing his mind, but there wasn’t much he could do that didn’t involve talking to one of the members of their little group. And if he talked to someone, he would probably get fed up extremely quickly because they would want to talk about one of the various issues plaguing his mind. Dilemas, dilemas.

ooo

He eventually did decide to seek refuge on the roof, and was able to stay there for a couple of hours without anyone finding him. He had tried to take a nap, but the old roof didn’t make for the most comfortable bed in the world. The hedgehog was wary about what nightmares he might have, as well, and that nagging fear kept him from doing anything more than just dozing. Scourge was sure his eyes were bloodshot from how much sleep he’d been missing lately, and his head was starting to feel fuzzy. He yawned. What’d he’d give for a good night’s sleep, to have the nightmares and the visions go away.

His ear twitched as he heard one of the un-boarded up windows slide open and click into place. Someone climbed out onto the roof. Scourge opened one eye, annoyed that his relative peace and quiet was about to be disturbed. He looked up to see Sonic approaching, his large scar looking as bad as ever. The green hedgehog almost forgot one of Sonic’s eyes had turned completely black as the scar cut through his face.

“There you are,” the black-and-blue hedgehog said, sounding as tired as Scourge felt. He gingerly lowered himself down so that he was sitting down next to his doppelganger. Scourge grunted, acknowledging his presence. “So, uh… Tails told me the news. About what happened to your dad.”

_ “Gods,  _ how many times do I gotta say it?!” Scourge demanded, shooting up into a sitting position. “I’m  _ sorry,  _ okay? I was a fuckin’ stupid kid, what kid doesn’t make mistakes that they regret later?!”

“Woah woah, hey!” Sonic held his hands out and tried to get his twin to calm down. “I know you’re sorry, Tails told me everything. It’s okay.”

The green hedgehog froze, barely believing his ears. This Sonic was angry, temperamental,  _ unreasonable. _ How could he not be furious? He blinked. “It’s… okay? What?”

Sonic looked right at him, seemingly almost  _ into _ him. That black and purple eye looked as if it could see right through somebody. “Well, I was pissed when I first heard. Like,  _ really _ pissed. Bet that’s no surprise, especially with my temper lately.” He ran a finger over his scar, feeling the rough skin. The scar tissue didn’t look normal, it was an odd, dark color with flecks of violet in it. “But then Tails told me… how you just looked miserable when everyone found out, ‘specially Lil’ T. And I started to think. ‘Cause you… you did it when you were ten, right?”

“Eleven.”

“Right. You were just a kid. I’m not saying you couldn’t have known any better, but you’re right, everyone screws up when they’re young. What matters is that you’ve proved that we can trust you  _ now,”  _ the blue hedgehog said with a confident nod.

Scourge sighed. “Jeez, I can’t believe you sometimes… The amount of times I’ve fucked up, and yer still willin’ to give me a chance… Why? Am I… just some pet project? You get yer kicks outta takin’ bad guys and makin’ ‘em good?”

Sonic raised an eyeridge. “Wha…? I mean, I’m all for people turnin’ around and trying to be the best they can be, but… I mean, it’s not like it’s my weekend hobby or anything. Where’d you get that idea from?"

“Uh… Fiona. I sort of ran into her today,” the green hog said, averting his eyes and looking off into the distance. The Mobotropolis skyline could be seen on the horizon, and the clouds were finally starting to break. “Let’s just say we had a pretty bad breakup. She tried to convince me that you’re all just usin’ me.”

“Well, just remember there’s a difference between using someone and asking them for help,” Sonic said with a wink. “Where did you manage to find Fiona, anyway? Haven’t heard from her in a while.”

“I was checkin’ out one of my old hideouts in the city, seein’ if there was any Anarchy Beryl still stashed there. Since, y’know, we don’t have all the Chaos Emeralds…”

“Huh. Good plan. I assume it didn’t quite pan out, though.”

“Nah, the place’d been cleaned out,” Scourge replied. He saw Sonic’s expression fall, as the hero’s hopes for saving his world were dashed again. “Eh, we’ll think of somethin’, Blue. We gotta, ‘cause now I gotta prove your past-self AND Fiona wrong,” he chuckled.

The window that Sonic had used to get onto the roof slid open again, and this time Zonic stuck his head out.  _ “There  _ you guys are,” he said, exasperation in his voice. “Zector and Zespio have news. Apparently, it’s news we should all hear.”

“Good news or bad news?” Sonic asked, ears perked.

“No idea. Everyone’s down in the living room already, let’s go!” the teenager said before disappearing back inside the house. Sonic and Scourge got to their feet, careful not to lose their footing on the slanted slope of the roof.

“Well,” Sonic shrugged, leading the way, “let’s go see what all the fuss is about.”


	24. Hopes and Nightmares

The whole team was gathered in the living room of the dusty mansion, circled around the coffee table where Zonic’s helmet and gauntlets sat. It was the first time they’d all been together since they’d arrived on Moebius. Built into the top of one of the gauntlets was small electrical keypad, and next to that was a small hologram projector. Floating above the table was a live feed of Zector and Zespio, flickering in the cyan light of the projector.

“Please tell me you guys have some good news for us,” Sonic said, taking a seat on the couch, right in front of the hologram. He noticed Zector and Zespio wince when they saw his scar, but they said nothing about it. Getting right to the point, Zector looked down at the data tablet in his hand.

“Good news, coming right up,” the croc said as Zespio fidgeted beside him. “Given the short notice we had and how quickly the Time Eater tore up the planet, we were able to evacuate a surprising number of Mobians. A few large cities’ worth of people, at least--”

“That’s  _ it?!”  _ the younger version of Sonic exclaimed, positively livid. He’d spent a lot of the past couple of days being upset and angry, and this wasn’t helping. “You call that good news? Of all the people on my world, you only got a few  _ cities _ out?!” His heart sank, as did everyone else’s. They’d worked so hard, fought so hard… and all that was left of Mobius Prime was a handful of people.

Zonic sighed. “Evacuating people is ridiculously hard, you guys,” he said, disrupting the smallest blue one’s fuming. “Especially when you’re wearing weird uniforms, teleporting into people’s houses without warning, and they don’t always think you’re there to help. Having portals for Zone Cops to use is great for moving people quickly, but still… The fact that that many people got out at all is a miracle.” The room fell silent, and the young Sonic looked very uncomfortable; like he wanted to say something but couldn’t form any words. Zonic glanced between his companions and his partners in the holographic feed. “If it weren’t for the Zone Cops… we would be the only survivors.”

Zespio smiled wide. “And that, my dear Zonic,” he said, “is where you are wrong.”

“Wait, what?” Zonic blinked.

“We’re still picking up plenty of life signs on Mobius Prime,” the chameleon grinned excitedly. “Life signs that we  _ don’t _ think are any sort of monster. We can’t tell you how “okay” any of them are, but the vast majority of Mobius’ population is  _ still alive.” _

The cheering that erupted was so loud, it sounded like there were twenty people in that living room instead of six. Both Sonics and Tailses were hugging, Zonic and Scourge high fived multiple times, and everyone felt truly  _ happy _ for the first time in days. If people were still alive, if  _ everyone  _ was still alive, then Mobius still had to be largely in one piece. If Mobius was still there, so too would the last Chaos Emerald. They still had a chance. They hadn’t lost, they could defeat the time Eater, they could fix this whole mess. They could still win.

ooo

They didn’t celebrate for long. There was work to be done. The team of six sat gathered around the coffee table, but instead of looking at Zonic’s hologram projector, they were looking down at pads upon pads of yellowed paper that the older Tails had scrounged up from somewhere around the house, all of which had ideas and plans of attack scrawled across them. None of those plans were entirely relevant anymore, but the fox was trying to mix and match them all into something that might work. Also spread out on the table were the six Chaos Emeralds they had collected. The gems glowed brightly, happy to be with each other out in the open.

“Alright troops,” Sonic said confidently, fire in his eyes (eye?). “First things first-- how we’re getting to Mobius. Zonic, we good on transportation?”

“I can’t imagine my belt has much charge left, since we’ve been ‘porting around for days and I didn’t think to plug it in when I was last in No Zone. I should be able to get us there, but I’m not so sure about a return trip,” the No Zoner reported.

Sonic nodded. “With any luck, we won’t need to make a return trip. I’ve never Chaos Controlled to a different dimension before, but I imagine it’s not exactly easy. But like I said, hopefully we won’t even have to worry about that.”

“So,” his past self spoke up, “what’s our plan of attack?”

Tails was fervently scribbling revisions over all of his notes on the table. “None of these accounted for the possibility of us going back to Mobius and getting the seventh Emerald. Just… ignore all of this for now,” he said, scribbling through the lines of notes. “Maybe as a backup plan… Plan B… Hm…” he muttered under his breath, burying himself in the papers.

Scourge shrugged, one hand on his chin. “I dunno how much planning we can  _ do.  _ We don’t know what Mobius is like, where the Emerald is, where the Time Eater will be. We’re goin’ in totally blind. I say we go in, find the Emerald, and we all go Super and just go for an all-out attack.”

“No way,” Mini-Sonic shook his head. “Not gonna work.”

“Why? ‘Cause I came up with it?” Scourge demanded, rising from his seat. “And everything I come up with is bad, right?”

“As a matter of fact,” the child said, moving to get up before his older self pushed him back down into his seat.

“Cut it out, you guys,” the heavily scarred hedgehog said firmly. “There’s been enough fighting going on around here, I think.” Lil’ T, sitting hidden next to Zonic, nodded quietly.

“Scourge aside, I still don’t think rushing the Time Eater is a good idea,” past-Sonic said, crossing his arms.

“Isn’t that how we did it last time?”

“Yeah, and look how well that worked out!”

“Yeah,  _ but,”  _ Scourge was quick to add, “this time there’s four of us who can go Super. That’s twice as much fire power!  _ It could work.” _

“Um,” Zonic said before he could stop himself, “it might only be three of us. Who can go Super, that is.”

The older Sonic furrowed his brow. “Whaddaya mean, Z? You talkin’ about me?” he asked, putting a hand against his chest. “This thing sucks, but I think I can still--”

“I was actually talking about me,” the small Zone Cop said, looking down at the Emeralds on the table. “I can’t sense the Emeralds like you guys can. Like,  _ at all.  _ I held one up to my chest the other day and I didn’t feel a thing. I don’t think I can go Super.”

Everyone stared at him, their expressions a mix of surprise and confusion. Zonic regretted having said anything. He suddenly felt rather useless. What good would he be against the Time Eater if he couldn’t harness the Emeralds’ power? At least he could have pretended to be able to do something, but now the cat was out of the bag.

“That… That makes no sense. How can you not feel the Emeralds, when…?” Sonic said quietly, trying to wrap his brain around what Zonic had just said.

“I dunno,” the No Zoner sounded defeated. “I guess I just don’t have any sort of Chaos Powers like you guys have.”

The older Sonic looked like he was about to have an aneurysm, and the younger one shook his head, eyes wide. “That’s impossible,” the child said. “Of  _ course _ you have a connection to Chaos, why do you think we can run at the speed of sound? By default, you should have a connection to the Emeralds… but why can’t you tap it?”

“All I know is,” Scourge said, “is that it took me a bit to get used to the Emeralds. I’m more used to Anarchy Beryl, my world’s stuff. They’re pretty similar, but still… Maybe he just needs to get used to ‘em?”

Zonic sat up a little straighter, realization starting to dawn on his face. “My world doesn’t have Emeralds of its own,” he said slowly. “We harness Chaos Energy from other zones instead… Could that be the reason why?”

“Not sure,” Mini-Sonic said, picking up one of the Emeralds off the table. “Knuckles would know better than me. Sounds like a possible reason, though.” 

His older self smiled. “So it sounds like what you need is a crash course in Chaos Emeralds.”

“You think that’ll work?” Zonic asked uncertainly. “That I can just… learn this stuff?”

“Absolutely! I needed a lot of practice before I got as good as I am now. You’d be surprised how much of it has to do with just learning. Here,” he said, picking up another one of the Emeralds and holding it in both hands. “Don’t take it yet, just put your hand on it. I’m gonna push and pull a little on its energy with my own, you tell me if you can feel anything. Alright?”

“I’m not even gonna try and pretend I understand, just go for it.” The Zone Cop did as he was instructed, and placed a hand on top of the Emerald. Sonic closed his eyes, and the Emerald slowly grew brighter, then dimmed again. It’s light fluctuated as its power mingled with Sonic’s. Zonic thought he could feel a slight warmth, a tingling in his fingertips, which came and went with the Emerald’s glow. He smiled. “I can feel it… Not a whole lot, but it feels… warm.”

“Bingo! That’s it, that’s totally it,” Sonic beamed. “See? I told you you could do it.”

“Yeah,” Zonic removed his hand from the gem, “but I could only barely feel it,  _ with _ your help. You guys can sense these things from a mile away.”

“Baby steps, broseph. You’ll get there,” the older hedgehog reassured him.

The younger Sonic reached for some of the papers strewn about on the table. “Don’t worry, you got time to practice. If this is gonna be a one-way trip, we’re gonna need to get food and supplies, come up with something remotely resembling a plan…”

Tails nodded, still scribbling away at his notes. “Right, but we also can’t waste too much time. Who knows what the Time Eater might do next? We should leave here by tomorrow morning, at the  _ latest. _ ”

“Awesome,” Scourge said, “can’t wait to leave this dump behind.”

Sonic pounded a fist into his open hand. “Alright! That gives us a little time for Chaos Emerald Boot Camp. Anyone else wanna sign up?”

Mini-Sonic raised his hand. “Sure,” he said. “I mean, if I can already lightspeed dash, maybe I can get better at Chaos Control too.”

“Oh yeah, that’s right! Almost forgot about that,” his older self grinned. “Well, c’mon, let’s get started!”

ooo

They spent what was left of the day training, practicing with the Emeralds to form as strong of a bond as possible. Zonic went from not being able to sense the Emeralds at all to being able to feel them all the way from the other end of the living room. The young Sonic made progress as well, having successfully used Chaos Control to teleport himself outside, and then back in. Scourge had refused to participate, but he stuck around to watch anyway. The two foxes watched as well, and also gathered supplies and old backpacks from around the house. By the end of the day, everyone was feeling beat, particularly Lil’ T. Despite having done very little all day, he was exhausted. Soon after dinner (which was just the leftover pizza from the night before), he was yawning and having a hard time keeping his eyes open.

The smallest hedgehog looked over as he noticed his brother nodding off. “Gettin’ a little sleepy there, short stuff?” he asked, setting down the Chaos Emerald he was holding. Tails shook his head.

“Nuh-uh, I’m… I’m fine,” the child said, stifling a yawn. The young Sonic smirked.

“Nice try bud, caught ya red handed,” he said, getting to his feet. “C’mon, let’s get you to bed.”

“Um, actually,” Zonic said, setting down his Chaos Emerald as well, “I can take him up, if you want. I could use a break.”

“Oh. Uh, yeah, okay,” Sonic stammered, having been caught off guard by the offer. “If that’s okay with you, Tails.”

The kit’s eyes lit up. “Yeah! Space police!” he said, pumping his fists in the air before slowly falling backwards in his chair. “Plop.”

Zonic grinned, standing up as Sonic sat back down. “I’ll take that as a yes. C’mon, Lil’ T. Up you go.” He helped the kid out of the chair, but Tails still held his arms up. “What, do you want me to carry you upstairs?” the Zone Cop asked, hands on his hips.

“Yeah. You’re taller than Sonic is!” the fox exclaimed, making grabby hands.

Zonic snorted. “Yeah, barely. Like this, I’m not even a full year older than him.” But he relented, and lifted the child up onto his shoulders. “All aboard the train to sleepytime junction!”

“Choo choooo,” Tails whistled sleepily. The two made their way upstairs, Zonic holding a candle in one hand and taking his time so Tails wouldn’t fall. When they got up to the second floor, the fox directed him to the bedroom he had claimed as his own.

“I’m amazed that all the furniture in this house is still in decent shape,” Zonic said, picking Tails up off of him and setting him down on the old bed. “You don’t need a bedtime story, do ya? You’re a big kid.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” he nodded. “Can I see your badge, though? I just wanna look.”

“Sure thing.” The young officer pulled his badge out of his pocket and handed it over. The child held it in his hands and looked it over front and back, holding it up to the light of the candle.

“No Zone Police Department…” he murmured, reading the inscribed text. “What’s it like bein’ a space policeman, Zonic?”

“It’s a lot of hard work.” The hedgehog took a seat on the bed next to him. “I have to keep an eye on a whole bunch of different dimensions, and make sure everyone is safe.”

“That  _ does _ sound hard,” Tails said quietly. He opened his mouth to say something else, but the changed his mind and looked down at his lap.

“Somethin’ on your mind, kiddo?”

“Well…” Lil’ T fiddled with the badge in his hands. “You’re a police officer, and Scourge… was in jail, so…”

Zonic nodded, understanding what he was getting at. “Seems pretty weird that Sonic and I would get him out of prison to help us save the world, huh?” he said. “Trust me, I’d been keeping a special eye on him for a long time. I wouldn’t have even thought about bringing him out if I didn’t think he could change.”

“Okay. ‘Cause I know he did really bad stuff, and big bro said I shouldn’t trust him, but… I dunno what I should do. It’s all really confusing,” the fox said, his voice growing softer near the end.

The hedgehog felt a pang in his heart. Lil’ T was was only six years old. He’d experienced a lot in those six years, but the world was still a very black and white place for him. Someone like Scourge didn’t fit too neatly into either of those categories. Zonic exhaled slowly, trying to think of what to say. “I know what you mean, Tails. But I think Scourge really is trying to be better. From what he’s told me, he doesn’t want people to hate him or be afraid of him anymore. I personally think you should give him another shot, but… you’re a good kid, a  _ smart  _ kid. Whatever you choose to do, I know things’ll turn out okay.” As he talked, he stood up and pulled up the blankets on the bed, dragging them over Lil’ T. The child crawled underneath the covers, making himself comfortable. Zonic smiled kind of sadly. “Look, don’t sweat it, okay? What  _ you _ need to do is go to sleep.” The hedgehog rubbed a hand over the kit’s belly, and he stopped fidgeting and let out a yawn. Zonic finished tucking him in snugly, and picked up his candle to leave.

“Oh, did you want your badge back?” the bundled up fox asked sleepily.

“Hmm… Why don’t you keep it safe for me?” Zonic smiled back at him.

“Okay!” Tails nodded. “Goodnight, Zonic,” he said, snuggling deep into his pillow.

“‘Night, Tails.” Zonic silently left the bedroom, turning out the light and leaving the door open a crack to let just a bit of light from the hallway in. To his surprise, Sonic was standing by the door, his back leaning against the wall. He wore a sly, yet almost tired smile on his face. 

“Never would have guessed you’d be so good with kids,” he said quietly, so as to not disturb the young one inside.

“Tails is easy,” the No-Zoner smiled, matching his hushed tone. “Just gotta rub his belly, and he calms right down.”

The older hedgehog nodded in agreement before his words actually sunk in. “Wait, how do you know that?” he frowned, his eyes narrowing.

Zonic opened his mouth to reply, but quickly shut it again. He tensed up, though it was barely visible, and tried to hide the frown that formed on his face for a split second. “My, uh… my world’s Tails was the same way.”

Sonic’s eyes went wide. Of course it made sense that No Zone had a version of Tails, but Zonic had never talked about him before, and Sonic never saw him. Why hadn’t Z ever mentioned him before? And why did he seem so uncomfortable? “Uh, you okay dude?” Sonic asked, trying to  look the shorter hedgehog in the eye. Zonic was staring down at his hand, opening and closing it with a stern expression.

“Yeah, I’m… I’m fine. Just… remembering something that feels a lot more recent than it actually was.” He looked vaguely upset as his eyes lingered on his small fist.

“Well, I hate to pry, but…” the Prime Zoner smiled slyly. “Mind telling me what’s going on?”

“It’s okay, Sonic. It’s nothing.”

“Sure doesn’t seem like nothing,” the older hog said quietly. “C’mon kid, I’m your Chaos teacher. No secrets.”

Zonic sighed, seeing there would apparently be no easy way out of this. “Alright, fine. But it’s kind of a long story, so…” His eyes darted towards the door the younger Tails was behind. He sure as hell didn’t want the kid hearing any of what he had to say. Sonic took the hint, and the two hedgehogs moved to an empty guest room at the other end of the hall. One of the windows in the room was completely devoid of wooden boards and dirt (and glass), letting moonlight pour in from outside. They could hear the faint sound of crickets chirping outside as they closed the door behind them.

Sonic dragged a chair from the corner of the room into the light and sat backwards in it, arms crossed over the back. “So what ails you, my pupil?”

Zonic sighed, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jacket. “I… don’t really know where to start. I guess the beginning, but…”

Sonic shrugged. “Well, to be honest... I don’t know much about your past. Or, anything about it, actually. We haven’t done a ton of hanging out before this whole Time Eater thing started, after all. Not a ton of chances for conversation... But if you want to just cut to the chase, that’s fine by me.”

“Uh, okay. Um…” the Zone Cop thought aloud, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “Just, don’t freak out or anything, alright? ‘Cause Zails… he… he died.”

The older hedgehog’s eyes went wide. “No… No, Z, are you serious?”

“You’re freaking out. I told you not to freak out.”

“Of course I’m freaking out! That’s… I mean, that’s… Zonic, I’m sorry, I had no idea…” Sonic’s gut wrenched at the thought. The idea of Tails getting hurt was one that terrified him, but for his younger brother to  _ die…  _ And Zonic’s job was to keep an eye on the other Sonics of the multiverse, all the Sonics who still had their Tails around. What that must  _ feel _ like…

“It’s okay,” the Zone Cop said. “It was around seven years ago. I hate to say it, but… it gets easier after a while. It took a long time, but I’ve accepted that he’s gone. I’m okay.” His gaze shifted towards the closed door. “It’s just that, me being seven years younger right now… Tucking Tails in, I got a major case of deja vu.”

“I can imagine.” All traces of Sonic’s chipper mood were gone. He didn’t know what else to say. For once, he was at a loss for words.  _ 'No wonder Z’s usually so serious all the time,’  _ he thought.  _ ‘If anything ever happened to Tails, I can’t even begin to imagine what I’d do, or what I’d be like afterwards.’ _

“I should probably tell you the whole story.” Zonic crossed his legs and played with the sleeve of his jacket. “Like you said, you don’t know a whole lot about me, not really. Plus, if we go back to your world tomorrow… we might not come back at all. Doesn’t seem like there would be a better time to share a little bit of my backstory, huh?”

“I… I guess not,” Sonic sighed. He wasn't sure he was ready for this conversation; just hearing about Zails had really shaken him. But Zonic was right, there wouldn't really be another good time to talk about this. The Zone Cop sounded like he wanted to get this story off of his chest, so Sonic was determined to listen anyway. He just hoped he wouldn't freak out or lose his temper over anything; he'd been slowly but steadily losing his grasp on his emotions, and didn't want to get set off by anything. "Uh, yeah, go ahead, tell me about yourself! Can't say I haven't been curious. I've been wondering why you became a Zone Cop in the first place for ages."

"Heh, alright," the young officer said, sitting up a little straighter. "Well, I guess I should start with my parents, because I did grow up knowing them. Luckily, they weren't anything like Scourge's parents, I'll say that for them. Though I always felt like there was something they wouldn't tell me... But aside from that, they were great. We were one happy, loving family."

Sonic scratched the back of his neck. "What, um, what're their names?" he asked sheepishly. In a way, they were his parents too, and he felt awkward not knowing a thing about them.

"Zules and Zernadette. Yours would have been Jules and Bernadette," Zonic said understandingly. "My parents were both Zone Cops back in the day. But they went on a mission when I was a little kid, and... they never came back. Went missing, no one knows what happened to them, but it's pretty unlikely they're alive after all this time."

"Oh jeez, dude," the older hedgehog breathed. "I'm sorry. I mean, you were always a pretty serious dude compared to me, so I figured you had it rougher than I did growin' up, but... losing your parents  _ and _ your bro... I didn't think... "

"At least I knew my parents," the cop said, awkwardly playing with his spatial stabilizer. "You grew up in an orphanage, right? That's gotta be its own unique brand of suck. But like I said before, this was a long time ago. It was really hard to keep going on without them, and it took a long time for me to adjust, but... I did. I don't wanna come off as cold-hearted, but... y'know. Gotta keep moving forward, don't look back."

"Hey, that's what I always say." A small smirked graced Sonic's lips.

"Yeah. No Zone culture revolves a lot around other Zones, and our other selves... You were kind of a big inspiration to me growing up."

“No kiddin’?” the older one smiled. “That’s pretty cool! I’m glad I could help you out of a tough spot like that.”

“Heh, yeah. I should probably thank you for that. So, uh, thanks!”

“Not a problem,” Sonic gave him a thumbs up.  _ ‘I knew that I was well-known on Mobius, but… I inspired  _ myself _ from an alternate dimension. That’s pretty incredible!’ _

“Yeah. Yeah, so uh… I met Zails shortly after my folks disappeared. I think we met around the same time you and Tails met, actually. And we were just as close. He was sort of like my lifeline, he helped me take my mind off Mom and Dad, and we just did everything together.” The Zone Cop’s eyes were fixed, unfocused, on his stabilizer. “Doctor Nega was an issue even back then, though he wasn’t as strong. Every once in a while we liked to “pull a Prime,” as we called it, and go after him and his goons. And this was when I still had my speed, so we were a force to be reckoned with. But… nothing can last forever.

“Nega finally got sick of Zails and I ruining his plans. He got serious. He kidnapped Zails to set a trap for me.” Zonic’s voice started to lose its confidence, and his fingers gripped his stabilizer more tightly. “Nega had Zails tied up, with a laser pointed at his head. So I ran in there, guns ablazing, and I got my ass captured too. And then, the doc made a “deal” with me.”

“Uh oh,” Sonic said, leaning forward in his seat. “That doesn’t sound good.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t. I think you can see where this is going,” Zonic looked over at him, trying to smile a little bit. “The deal was, either I let him zap my speed away, or he’d kill Zails.”

“Chaos… that’s as evil as it gets,” the older hedgehog breathed. “Well, I guess that explains how you lost your speed when you were thirteen. But then…!”

“Yep. Zails still died. Nega… wasn’t above playing dirty.”

“That’s terrible! Eggman wouldn’t even  _ think _ of stooping so low… I’m guessing you joined the Zone Cops pretty soon after.”

Zonic raised an eyeridge. “How’d you guess?”

“It’s what I would’ve done,” Sonic shrugged. “If I had no one, no powers, but still wanted to protect and help people… Law enforcement seems like it would be the way to go, as much as I hate being told what to do.”

“Heh. Kind of hit the nail right on the head there, Prime,” the No Zoner smiled lightly. “Now you know why I am the way that I am, and why I got hit so hard with that deja vu.”

“I’m surprised it didn’t happen sooner. You’ve been hanging out with  _ two _ Tailses for days now. Are you sure you’re doing okay, pal?” Sonic got up from his chair and stepped over to the bed where Zonic sat.

“I’m fine, I promise,” the teenager nodded. “I’m from No Zone, I grew up knowing about alternate dimensions. Alternate Tailses aren’t that new to me. Again, not to sound cold hearted, but I’m kind of used to it.”

“Mmm,” Sonic hummed. He wasn’t really sure where the conversation should go from there. Zonic didn’t seem to need comforting, and talking about his own past seemed pointless, since the Zone Cop seemed to know most of his past already. There didn’t seem to be a natural segue into any other topic of conversation, so he sat quietly, listening to the crickets outside, and processed everything he’d just been told.  _ ‘Zonic… He lost his parents, his brother, his speed… I can’t even image what going through that must’ve been like. I started from pretty much nothing, but he… He lost everything and then had to start over. He said that I inspired him… He always says that I’m Sonic Prime, that I’m the big hero. He probably deserves that title more than I do.’  _ He ran his fingers along the scar tissue on his chest. Zonic was suffering from the time stream’s collapse, just like he was… and he was handling his transformation a lot more gracefully than Sonic was handling his. The older hedgehog smiled. “Thanks for telling me all that, Z. I think I really needed to hear it.”

“What?” Zonic said, his ears perked up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, now  _ I _ have someone to look up to when things look bad. You’re the one who pulled through all those bad times to become an inter-dimensional butt-kicker, after all!” Sonic playfully slapped his friend on the back. Zonic looked genuinely surprised by it.

“I… you…. what? No, that’s… I mean, that’s really nice of you to say, but…” he stammered, growing flustered. “I mean, you’re  _ Sonic Prime! _ I’m just the version of you from No Zone, I’m really not all that high on the dimensional pecking order. You’re  _ the _ Sonic. You shouldn’t be looking up to me.” He glanced down at the floor, his fingers twisting together into knots.

“Well, I’m sorry, but that’s a big honkin’ load of baloney,” Sonic laughed, putting an arm around the smaller hedgehog’s shoulders. “If you think I care about all that, then you  _ really _ don’t know me. I couldn’t give a crap about the “dimensional pecking order.” You’re a cool guy, Z. A cool guy who’s managed to pick himself up and keep on going, over and over and over again. I’ve been knocked down before, but not like you have. I’m just giving props where props are due, bro. And you are well overdue for some props.”

Zonic laughed, his cheeks starting to turn red. “Oh my  _ gods _ you are such a cheeseball. Only you… Actually, I think literally  _ only you _ would say something like that. As far as I know, No Zoners don’t usually get along all that well with our other selves,  _ especially _ not our Prime selves. Of course,  _ you  _ would be the odd one out. And by extension, me. And Scourge too, I guess. Gods, us Sonics used to be respectable! Look what you did!” He jokingly gave Sonic a shove, smiling wide.

“Haha, hey, the multiverse is on the brink of destruction, and the power of friendship prevails over dumb trans-dimensional societal conventions. Or should I say… the superpower of teamwork prevails!!”

“Dear gods make it stop! I can’t take the corny speeches! Nooooo!”

The two laughed, trying not to be  _ too _ loud so as not to disturb Tails, but that just made them want to laugh even harder. Soon, they were both busting a gut, laughing more at their own stifled laughter than anything else. Even once they’d calmed down and regained their breath, one of them snorted and sent them back into another laughing fit. They only stopped when Sonic started to  _ really _ hurt, his scar starting to burn from the strain on his lungs and stomach. Even then, it took them a little bit to calm down and to stop giggling at everything.

Zonic sniffed, his arm curled around his gut. “I needed that. I so, so needed that. I can’t remember the last time I laughed that hard. What the hell were we even laughing about?!” he wheezed. He was lying on the bed now instead of sitting, and was trying  _ very _ hard not to start laughing  _ again. _

“I don’t even know,” Sonic coughed. He wiped a stray tear from his eye. “Oh gods, I need a freaking nap after that one. What  _ were _ we talking about before?!”

“I dunno. I was talking about myself, some shit happened, I lost track,” the No Zoner shrugged. “Oh! I got something cool I can tell you, though. And I know you’re not gonna believe me, but…!” he paused for dramatic effect before revealing, “I have a tattoo.”

The older hedgehog blinked in surprise. “You have a  _ what now?” _ he asked, his face incredulous. “Where? Don’t tell me it’s a tramp stamp--”

_ “It’s not a freaking tramp stamp oh my gods Sonic,”  _ Zonic practically cried, giving his counterpart a kick. “It’s on my wrist. And  _ no _ , before you ask to see it, you can’t. I got it when I was eighteen, it’s not on this body.”

“Alright, so what is it? Describe it to my eyes.” Sonic closed his eyes, waving his fingers over them.

“Okay, okay,” the Zone Cop chuckled, “it’s like a striped bracelet, it goes all the way around. It’s like, you know friendship bracelets that kids make? The string ones? It’s like that, orange and blue stripes.” He held his wrist up to his face and pushed aside his stabilizer, revealing the bare skin underneath. He’d gotten used to seeing the colorful marks there, and his arm felt naked without them.

“Orange and blue for you and Zails?” Sonic said, opening his eyes and looking down at Zonic.

“Yeah. He made us matching bracelets one day. I still have mine, but if I wore it all the time, it would have fallen apart a long time ago.” Zonic set his arm down and looked up at the ceiling, trying to use the moonlight to make out any patterns in the plaster. “So I got it inked on. That way, I can always “wear” it. Well, until now that is.”

“Until we get you back to your regular self again,” Sonic said reassuringly. He stood up and stretched his back. “It shouldn’t be long now.”

“Yeah. Tomorrow’s the day, right?”

“Tomorrow’s the day. We should get some rest.”

The No Zoner sat up again. “But what about the Chaos Emeralds? You’re my Jedi master, remember?”

“I’d say you made plenty of progress today, young Padawan,” the older hedgehog winked. “Going Super isn’t as hard as you think it is. You can definitely sense the Emeralds better now that you’ve been focusing on their Energies, and that’s the hardest part. Trust me, when the seven Emeralds get together, all they want to  _ do _ is make you turn Super. We’re as ready as we’ll ever be, and we can’t afford to wait around forever. So yeah. Tomorrow…”

“Tomorrow,” Zonic nodded nervously. “Um, Sonic? Thanks. For everything.”

Sonic smiled wide as he went to leave the room. “You’re welcome for everything. Thank  _ you  _ for everything.” And without even waiting for Zonic to reply, he gave a short wave and walked back out into the hall.

ooo

 

Scourge cursed when he found himself in the ominous hallway again. He was  _ really _ starting to get sick of this. Couldn’t he just have a good night’s sleep for once? Why the hell did he keep having these nightmares?

Before he had time to even think, something cold grabbed around both his ankles and pulled, hard. Scourge hit the ground, his head spinning from the sudden impact. He was being dragged backwards, the carpeted floor rubbing harshly against his bare skin. He quickly turned around as much as he could to see what had grabbed his feet, and he screamed. It was the Time Eater, laughing monstrously, and pulling him backwards through the hallway at breakneck speeds. The hedgehog struggled to free himself from the monster’s grip, but the Time Eater seemed to be getting bigger and stronger by the second. In fact, the hallway seemed taller and wider than it was before, too. Scourge gripped at the carpet, trying to find something to latch onto, but his hands barely escaped the sleeves of his leather jacket, and they were swallowed up by his gloves.

“What the--!” Scourge gasped. His voice was different… and his size… The Time Eater was making him younger again. Fan-freaking-tastic. The green hedgehog tried to break free as he shrunk further and further, until his gloves had slipped off of his hands and his leather jacket had become huge and baggy on him. The Time Eater’s cold snaked up his short legs as rug burn scathed his chest and face. The beast let out a shrieking roar that shook the walls as it tossed Scourge unceremoniously into an open room.

The child yelped as he landed in a painful heap inside the dark room. He was burning, freezing, tiny, vulnerable. He groaned weakly, his young voice echoing through the space. The Time Eater was gone, and so was the door he’d been thrown through. The floor, the walls, everything in the room was pitch black, but Scourge could still see himself as if he were well-lit. Seeing himself in a younger body was still weird, but not new. This dream wasn’t too bad… so far. He knew this couldn’t be it.

A dark laughter came from a distant corner of the room.  _ ‘Yup, I knew there had to be more to this…’ _ Scourge thought. The laughter was gravelly and low, and it echoed as its owner approached. Heavy footsteps made the floor shake. Scourge scrambled to his feet, his legs shaking and still hurting from the Time Eater’s touch. The owner of the footsteps came into view, and the small hedgehog’s heart nearly stopped. It was Smalls, and he was  _ huge.  _ He pounded his fists together, each one bigger than the green one’s head. Scourge tried to back away, to run, but found himself frozen to the spot.

“Hey there,  _ Snot,” _ the massive cat grinned, his voice positively booming. “Long time no see. Almost didn’t recognize you. You were always a puny little shit, but you’re missin’ your bruises!” He grinned evilly, picking the small hedgehog up by his jacket. Scourge tried to kick and wriggle his way out of the big jacket, but for some reason, he was stuck. He was starting to panic. Smalls was enormous, and Scourge could very easily be killed in his current state. He just wanted to run, to escape, to be  _ rescued _ by someone. But it didn’t look like anyone was coming.

Without further adieu, Smalls planted a solid fist in Scourge’s gut, hitting hard again and again. He would occasionally switch it up and nail him in the head, hitting the hedgehog’s jaw, nose, ears, eyes. Before long, Scourge’s nose was busted, he’d lost a tooth, bruised and/or broken a number of ribs, and was sporting a black eye. Smalls dropped him on the ground, sniffling, bleeding, and struggling to crawl away. Everything hurt. He thought that being younger and smaller would mean less surface area to be hurt, but clearly he was wrong. He felt like he’d gotten a month’s worth of beatings in… minutes? Hours? He didn’t know. The pain had turned to numbness, he wasn’t sure what was going on anymore. The green hog spat blood out on the floor, his whole body shaking.  _ ‘I… I gotta get out of here…’ _ he thought, feeling dizzy. HIs vision was dark and fuzzy, like it gets when you stand up too fast, but it wasn’t going away.  _ ‘There has to be something I can do to get out of here…’ _ He tried to drag himself up to his knees, the movement hurting his ribs but not enough to stop him. After what felt like an eternity, he finally got up to a position where he could crawl. As he slowly pulled himself away from Smalls, the cat didn’t come after him or kick him, or do anything other than laugh. Scourge did his best to block him out, to forget about the entire year he’d spent being terrorized by Smalls. But the sick laughter only seemed to multiply. The Time Eater’s otherworldly laughter joined in, though the creature and Smalls were no longer in view. They’d been absorbed by the chamber’s darkness, and their howls seemed to come from every direction.

As their ethereal voices grew louder and louder, Scourge became aware of a presence directly ahead of him. He looked up to see a blue hedgehog, and his hopes lifted for a split second before his heart sank even lower. In front of him wasn’t Sonic or Zonic, but his father. The older hedgehog glared down at his child, disgust in his eyes.

“Pathetic,” he spat, kicking Scourge in the side just hard enough so that he fell over. “You’re so weak, so  _ stupid… _ You really think you can get out of here? As if you could do anything right. Useless.” He kicked the green hedgehog again, this time hard enough to send him tumbling across the floor. Scourge gasped for breath, one of his broken ribs poking into a lung. The voices laughed even louder, joined by his father this time. The child lay helplessly on the floor, still bleeding and shivering. His vision was so shaky he could barely make out his own tiny hand in front of him.

_ ‘There’s no way out of here,’ _ he thought weakly. Where  _ was  _ he? He couldn’t remember. Was he going to die here? In the dark, surrounded by some of his worst nightmares? It certainly felt like it. His dad was walking towards him, and Smalls and the Time Eater had come out of the shadows to join him. As they stalked closer to the quivering hedgehog, there was a sudden, small light that came from behind them. Scourge looked up. The light was coming from a doorway- the same one he came in from. He had a way out. He had a chance. Finding a second wind, he pushed his pain out of his mind as he shoved himself up to his feet and made a mad dash/limp towards the door. His three enemies were caught off guard as the young child ran in between them, moving surprisingly fast despite the condition he was in.

The next thing Scourge knew, he was on the other side of the door, holding it shut with all of his might as Smalls, his dad, and the Time Eater were all pounding on it furiously.  _ ‘I never got back to the hallway before,’ _ he thought, his mind clearer but still frantic.  _ ‘Where do I go from here? How the hell do I get out of here?!’ _ He looked around, looking for something,  _ anything _ that was different in the classy hallway. The corridor stretched on to both his left and his right, but on the right side there was something he’d never seen before. An end to the hallway. Scourge’s heart started to beat faster. This place had always been endless, but there, not too far away, was an end to the hall, with a set of ornate double doors beckoning to him. The only problem was that as soon as he let go of the door, his nightmares would get out and attack him, drag him back in. But freedom… It was so close. He could get out of here. He could get away from the hell that existed behind these doors, he could rest. He had to at least try, right?

He steeled his nerve, took a deep breath (minding the pain shooting his through his chest), and let go of the door.

Scourge took off running as fast as he could, not stopping or looking back, no matter how much his body was screaming at him to slow down. The door burst open, and the time Eater’s ferocious roar made the wall shake, the doors rattle, and the lights flicker. Smalls and his dad were yelling something to him, but he was determined not to hear it. He needed to get to that door. He hurt everywhere, but for some reason it wasn’t limiting his movement. He was running at top speed, as fast as his small legs could carry him. He felt something grab at the back of his huge baggy jacket, but the child easily slipped out of it and didn’t look back. He was so close. He was going to  _ make it-- _

He was grabbed from behind by three pairs of hands. Scourge’s fingers were gripped around the door handle, and he held on tightly as he was pulled backward. “No!!” he cried out, his heart pounding in his ears. He had to get out of here. He didn’t want to die. He was so close! He got dragged back harder and harder, and he struggled to maintain his grip on the handle of the door. He kicked and screamed, trying to get the monsters to let go.

“Pathetic,” his father said darkly behind him, the words snaking into his ears.  _ “Useless.” _

“Get some new material, old man!!” Scourge yelled angrily, kicking at the hands holding onto him. “Let GO!!”

As he shouted, the doors suddenly blasted open, blowing his attackers backwards and freeing the small hedgehog from their grip. Not even thinking about what the hell just happened, Scourge pushed through the doors, and everything went white.

He shot up into a sitting position, breathing heavily. He was back in the living room of his parent’s mansion, sun shining through the cracks in the boarded-up windows. Everyone else was in the room with him, pouring over plans of attack for how to tackle the Time Eater. Scourge’s hands ran over every inch of his face. He wasn’t a kid. His nose wasn’t broken, he wasn’t missing any teeth, he didn’t have any bruises. All of his ribs were intact. It was just another dream.

_ ‘It all felt real… I knew it was just a dream at first, but I forgot pretty quick...  Dammit, this is getting bad,’ _ he thought. His hands were still shaking, and his body felt sore, as if he really  _ had _ been getting beaten up all night.  _ ‘My dad, Smalls,  _ and _ the Time Eater… talk about a triple threat. I seriously thought I was going to die back there. I can’t do this anymore, I can’t…’ _

He looked around to the others, his heart beating rapidly in his chest. They didn’t even look like they’d noticed his frantic awakening; were they just used to it by now? It wouldn’t be surprising. If the dreams weren’t so freakin’ traumatizing, Scourge would be used to them by now as well. But no, they had to keep getting worse, throwing something new at him every time. Or, this time, throwing everything at him at once.  _ ‘Is there anything else I’m afraid of? Anything else that’ll jump out at me in my sleep?’ _ He sincerely hoped not. He didn’t think anything else scared him that deeply. Maybe water, but a dream where he was drowning didn’t sound as bad as what he’d just went through. He was so tired. If the events from the past few days weren’t exhausting enough, the fact that he was barely getting any sleep definitely wasn’t helping matters. He couldn’t keep going on like this. If he did, there was a pretty good chance that he’d pass out in the middle of the day, just from exhaustion. He hated admitting it, but he couldn’t just pretend like nothing was wrong anymore. He needed help.

“Guys,” Scourge said hoarsely, “There’s something that I think I gotta tell you.” But no one looked up. It was like they didn’t even hear him. They all just continued happily chatting and discussing plans, as if he hadn’t said anything at all. “Uh, hello? Scourge to chumps, come in chumps. Ya read me?” he asked again, getting up from the couch. Still no response. He rolled his eyes. “Oh, very funny guys. Givin’ me the silent treatment, classic. Can you cut it out? I really need your… help…” Nothing. No one even glanced in his direction. Annoyed, the green hedgehog reached a hand out to nudge Zonic on the shoulder, only to find that he phased right through the Zone Cop. Scourge immediately pulled back, and fell back down into the couch. “What the fuck!” he gasped, horrified. He looked at his hand. It certainly  _ looked  _ normal, and so did Zonic, who didn’t even notice what had happened. What the hell was going on? Gulping nervously, Scourge reached his hand out again, trying to find anyone who was solid. None of them were-- or, were they all solid, but he was… like a ghost? “They can’t see me or hear me… I can’t touch them… This is so messed up…” He was frozen to the spot, a terrified expression on his face. He didn’t know what was happening, but he didn’t like it. “Why can’t they see me?  _ Why can’t they see me?!” _

The door to the living room opened behind him, and everyone turned to look. Entering the room was… Scourge?! It was another green hedgehog, that looked exactly like him in every way. Everyone waved and greeted the newcomer casually as he walked into the room. At first it seemed like the new Scourge couldn’t see ghostly hedgehog either, but he  _ definitely _ winked at him as he walked past.  _ ‘What… the… fuck…’ _ Scourge thought, unable to fully process what he was seeing. There were… two of him? Talk about an out of body experience. His mouth went completely dry, and his palms were starting to sweat. He’d been with alternate versions of himself for the past number of days, but this was something else entirely. What was going on?!

The other Scourge reached inside his jacket pocket and grinned maliciously. “Hey, you guys’ll  _ never _ guess what I just found,” he said, gathering everyone’s attention. He revealed a small, multicolored gem that radiated a familiar power. “Anarchy Beryl.”

Sonic smiled excitedly. “Yo, awesome! We can use that stuff to go Super, right? We can take the fight right to the Time Eater now!”

“Yeah, we could,” the new Scourge said, closing his fingers around the stone. “Or…” All of a sudden, he erupted in a flash of purple, dark power exploding off of him. The doppelganger’s fur turned a deep magenta-violet color, and his quills swooped upwards. The whites of his eyes turned pure black, and his irises changed from bright blue to a piercing red. _He’d gone_ _Super._ “Or, I could beat the life out of every single one of you.”

He was suddenly everywhere at once, beating everyone to the ground. Sonic, Tails, Z, Lil’ T and the younger Sonic… before Scourge knew it, his double had them all on the floor, bruised and scared and confused. They were no match for him. Scourge’s eyes widened as he saw his allies get beaten and tossed to a pulp, trying to fight back against Super Scourge to no avail. The green hedgehog stumbled backward, his legs suddenly feeling extremely weak. He felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn’t watch this. How was this happening? He couldn’t really be watching himself do this, right?

Super Scourge didn’t seem to have a problem hurting everyone else. In fact, he looked to be seriously enjoying himself. He easily tossed Sonic across the room before picking Zonic up by the collar of his jacket, the young teen struggling to free himself. “Scourge, what the hell are you doing?!” the Zone Cop choked out, fear and uncertainty in his eyes. “I thought we on the same side!”

“Well,  _ Captain,  _ looks like you thought wrong,” the violet hedgehog smirked, tightening his grip. “The only side I’m on, and always  _ have  _ been on, is my  _ own!” _ Super Scourge slammed Z into a wall, and a sickening  _ crack _ rang out through the room. The young officer slid to the ground, silent but clearly in a lot of pain. He looked utterly terrified. As Super Scourge turned away to find another victim to throttle, Scourge rushed to Zonic’s side without even thinking.

“Zonic? Zonic, come on man, I’m right here. Just look at me,” the green hedgehog breathed, watching Z’s face. The No Zoner still couldn’t see or hear him, and his eyes were focused on Super Scourge. “Z, that isn’t me. Listen to me dude, that guy isn’t me!” But Zonic didn’t know that. In his eyes, and in everyone else’s, Scourge had just suddenly turned on them and was trying to kill them. Meanwhile, the real Scourge was shaking, unable to reach out to his injured teammates.  _ ‘Why is this happening? How do I make it stop?!’ _

The older Tails and both Sonics were now sufficiently bloodied and battered, each lying on the floor similarly to Zonic; staring up at Super Scourge, unable to do anything other than look scared and… betrayed. The Super hedgehog was slowly approaching the younger Tails, who was cowering in a corner of the room, crying and shaking. The child was curled up in a ball, unable to muster up the courage to run away.

“Don’t. You. Dare,” Scourge growled, standing up as his double placed a hand around Lil’ T’s neck. Super Scourge froze in place, an amused expression on his face. The green hedgehog was livid. “If you don’t step away from him right now, I swear I’ll--”

“You’ll what? Punch right through me?” his purple doppelganger rolled his eyes. “You can’t do anything. All you can do is watch… Watch as I snuff their lives out, one by one…” Super Scourge held Lil’ T in the air with one hand and brushed the kid’s bangs out of his face with the other. The small fox didn’t seem to notice that his assailant was apparently talking to nobody, but that likely had something to do with the fact that he was being choked and was dangling off the ground.

Scourge was standing right behind his double now. “Listen pal, I don’t know who the fuck you think you are, but--”

“Oh, I’m you. The _ real  _ you. Sorry, I thought that was obvious,” the other Scourge said with a laugh, watching Lil’ T gasping for breath with a look of satisfaction. “Did you really think that Scourge the Hedgehog could be a hero? What a joke.”

“Let him  _ go!!”  _ the green hedgehog screamed, letting a kick fly towards Super Scourge’s head. Like with everyone else though, he just phased through like he was some sort of ghost. His double laughed even more, as Scourge suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He was powerless. There was nothing he could do. They were all going to die… and they were all going to die thinking that he had killed them, that he had betrayed them…

Lil’ T passed out, going limp in the violet hog’s grasp. Super Scourge dropped him to the ground and placed a boot on top of the kid’s chest, pushing down hard. “Well, Greenie, say goodbye to your favorite little pain in the ass,” he said cooly, his grin gone.  _ He was going to kill Tails. _

“No… No, no no no no you can’t, you can’t do this…” Scourge choked, kneeling down next to the tiny fox. “Leave him alone, leave them  _ all  _ alone… Don’t hurt him anymore, please…” His voice was thick and heavy, and his eyes were starting to get wet. “I don’t give a shit if you’re really me or not, just don’t hurt them anymore…”

Super Scourge over-dramatically considered the suggestion for a moment before shrugging. “Alright,” he said taking his foot off of Tails’ chest. He quickly turned around and used the same foot to kick Scourge square in the jaw, sending him to the floor. “Guess I’ll just have to hurt you instead, wuss.” He dragged the green hedgehog across the floor by the wrist, pulling him towards the living room windows. He blasted a hole through one of the boarded windows with energy from his hands. Though sunlight was pouring in through the window, it was pitch black outside, and there was no ground to be seen. The house was floating in an empty void. “Goodbye, you useless sack of shit. Congratulations on postponing your teammates’ deaths for a minute or two.”

Scourge got launched through the window with tremendous force and began falling, tumbling through the blackness until the house was out of sight. He could still faintly make out the sound of the others screaming his name.

Scourge screamed. He shot up, gasping for breath and covered in cold sweat. He blinked, eyes darting about frantically. He was sitting on the couch in the mansion’s living room. No one was around, and it was the dead of night.

_ ‘What the fuck,’ _ the hedgehog thought.  _ ‘How did I get back here? Where are the others, are they okay?!’ _ He tried to get up off the couch, but he suddenly got dizzy and had to sit back down. He closed his eyes and ran his hands over his bare arms. He was covered in goosebumps.  _ ‘What the hell is going on? None of this makes any sense. Everything in here is back to normal. It’s like that whole thing never… never happened…’ _ He breathed shakily.  _ Did  _ it actually happen? Or was it another dream? He wouldn’t be surprised. Super Scourge never showed up, never hurt anyone... It wasn’t real.  _ ‘Well, if that’s the case… that explains why there were two of me, and why I was like a ghost… Thank Chaos. None of them are hurt, no one’s dead…’ _

Scourge was thoroughly freaked out, and unsure what to think. There was too much to process all at once. That dream had felt 100% real. When he “woke up” in the living room in his dream, he thought he was really awake. Was he even awake now? The dreams were getting worse and worse. He was terrified. He was terrified of the others getting hurt, of being afraid of him. Since when did he care so much about their well being, or what they thought of him? He knew that he was afraid of Smalls, the Time Eater, his father. He knew that he hated them. Did… did he feel that way about himself? Was he afraid of himself…?

_ ‘Shit,’ _ Scourge thought, holding his face in his hands. His cheeks were wet.  _ ‘Shit shit shit! I… I can’t do this anymore. I can’t. I need help. It’s time to put my big fuckin’ ego aside and get some.’ _ It wasn’t an idea he was particularly comfortable with. Sure, his teammates had seen him more vulnerable than most others had, but still… this would be a new low for him. There was no way he was going to tell everyone at once. Just one person knowing about his little problem for now would be plenty.

_ ‘The kids are out of the question. One hates my guts, an’ the other one is terrified of me. Besides, even if they did like me, I seriously doubt they know how to fix this. Sonic’s out, too. He’s too unpredictable lately, he might bite my head off. That leaves Zonic and Tails… kinda leaning towards Tails. I think he’s less likely to give me hard time about keepin’ this to myself for so long.’  _ He clenched his fists. His mind was made up. Now came the hard part. Actually going to Tails and talking to him.

 


	25. Going Home

_ Knock knock. _ Tails opened the door slowly, his eyes still only half-open. “What is it, Soni--  _ Scourge?”  _ He furrowed his brow, squinting further. “Uh, what’s up?”

The hedgehog took a deep breath in and out. It would be best to just get this over with, like pulling off a bandaid. “Tails, I need your help,” he said. His hands were balled into fists at his sides, and he found that he wasn’t able to maintain eye contact.  _ ‘I just saw this kid get beaten within an inch of his life,’ _ he remembered all too clearly.  _ ‘He should be dead, or at the very least, terrified of me. But he’s fine. That was way too real…’ _

“You… wait, what?”

“Don’t make me say it twice, kid,” Scourge said, keeping his voice down. He didn’t want to risk anyone else waking up. “Can we talk?”

“Yeah,” the fox nodded, stepping inside the room and holding the door open for Scourge. “So… what’s going on?” Tails asked quietly as the Moebian entered the room. He closed the door behind him, leaving them both in the dark save for a sliver of moonlight poking through one of the windows. Tails lit the candle he’d brought in with him earlier, letting the two see. Scourge sat awkwardly at the edge of the bed, trying to think of what to say. Tails still had a hard time believing that Scourge of all people had just come to him in the middle of the night asking for help with something. “Does… this have to do with my past self?”

“Uh… no, not really,” the hedgehog scratched the back of his neck. “I... think there’s something wrong with me. It’s like… well, it’s a lot of things actually,” he huffed. How would he explain all this…? “I’m not really good at stuff like this, so…”

“What, are you hurt? Or is it a timestream thing? Like what happened to Sonic and Z?” the young teenager asked, placing the lit candle on the nightstand and plopping onto the bed himself.

Scourge scoffed. “Heh, I wish. If this was ‘cause of the Time Eater, I’d know  _ why _ this was all happening, I’d have someone to blame. So far the only theory I can come up with is that I’m goin’ crazy.” He shook his head. "I'm having nightmares. And I'm hallucinating, and havin' flashbacks. I dunno what's causin' them, or how to get them to stop, or  _ anything. _ I'm freaking out."

"I... whoa," Tails muttered, eyes wide. "That sounds bad. How long has this been going on?"

"I started getting the nightmares a few days before you guys picked me up. Everything else started a little after," Scourge said quietly. His mouth was dry, and he found that his hands were starting to shake. Talking about this stuff out loud made it all seem more real, more of a threat. Why did people always insist that talking about your feelings and problems helped you? "And it's all happening more and more often. The nightmares are every night, and I've hallucinated stuff more than once since we've been on Moebius."

Tails studied the hedgehog with his eyes. He'd seen that worried look before, but not often. Sonic (and likewise, Zonic and Scourge) almost never admitted fear or vulnerability, and if he did, most of the time he'd just brush it off like it was no big deal. But recently, hiding anxiety had been hard for everyone. Guess it was Scourge's turn. "I think we should take this one thing at a time," the fox said, crossing his legs pretzel style and leaning forward, elbows on his knees. "Hallucinations first."

"Okay," the green one said, eyes pointed to the floor. He crossed his arms, fingers gripping the goosebumped skin tight. "The first one was in Twinkle Park, when Z and I were lookin' for the Chaos Emerald there," he said, his voice low and tired. There wasn't a lot of intonation in his words, as if he was just trying to tell his story without even thinking about it. "We split up, and I ended up in a mirror maze. And the reflections.... they weren't me. They were all Sonic. Looked like him, sounded like him, definitely did not act like him. They kept taunting me, callin' me Sonic and sayin' that deep down I wanted to be like him. Which I sure as fuck don't, by the way," he glanced sideways at Tails. "Just 'cause I'm givin' up on the villain biz doesn't mean I wanna be just like Blue, got it? But still... it was freaky. I thought it might've been because there was a bunch of Chaos Energy bouncin' around in that room, but I think I was just tellin' myself that to make me feel better. I ended up bustin' every single mirror in that place. I'm still nervous about lookin' into the mirror in the bathroom."

“Holy…” Tails gasped, not quite sure how to respond.

“And earlier today, I ran into Fiona when I was out. She was fightin’ me, and all of a sudden, I legit thought I was back in Zone Jail, about to get beat up by my cellmate. So I  _ may _ have gone a little overboard in taking Fiona out, but she’ll be fine. Probably.”

“What’d you do?”

“Uh… spindash her into the ground.”

“Jeez,” the fox grimaced. “Yeah, that sounds like a bit of a problem. I can see why you’d be so freaked out, I heard you had a rough time in prison. Well, rougher than what one would expect.”

Scourge nodded slowly. “I got beat so bad, I got bruises in my first few months that are _still_ _there._ I didn’t even know that was possible ‘til recently. And bein’ your cellmate’s favorite punching bag means you’re never safe, you can never sleep easy, you never get a _fuckin’_ break…” He shuddered, remembering his most recent nightmare. Smalls had been _huge,_ and Scourge had been totally helpless stuck in a kid's body. Not too far from reality, really.

"No wonder Sonic felt sorry for you when he saw you in there," the two-tail breathed. Scourge had indeed been covered in bruises and cuts when he'd first been brought to the workshop, but most of them had at least partially healed by now. Fighting monsters and running around all the time tended to slow the healing process, but there did seem to be a few marks on the hedgehog's body that hadn't changed at all. _ 'He must've really been kicked around pretty hard, and pretty often for that to happen... not to mention, hallucinating vividly about being back in Zone Jail... Hm...' _ Tails looked into the flickering candle, observing the bouncing light on the walls. He wished he had his Miles Electric with him. Psychological problems weren't really his forte, and he would've loved to do some extended research on the subject right then. But unfortunately, he'd left the device back in the workshop when they had all gone to find the final Chaos Emerald. Dang. It would have been really nice to have some outside information right about then. "Um... You mentioned nightmares too, right?" he said, getting the conversation back on track.

Scourge's eyes, which had been pointed in the fox's direction, turned back to the floor. His muscles tensed, like he was afraid to even  _ think _ about his nightmares, let alone talk about them. After a moment of silence, he nodded.

Tails pushed further, trying to get the green one to open up just a little bit more. "And you said they were every night, right? I take it they're pretty bad."

"Y-yeah," the hedgehog said shakily. "An' they keep gettin' worse. Every night, just more bad shit happening to me, and now they're starting to feel real. When I woke up just now, I thought everything I'd dreamed really happened. A-and not just for a split second, either. I still kind of thought it was real until I saw you were... Um."

"Until you saw I was... what?"

"... Alive."

Tails blinked in surprise. "Whoa. Must be really bad then. If this has been going on the whole time you've been here with us... And you didn't tell anyone 'til now, right? I'm the first person you're telling all of this?"

“Yeah. I can’t do it anymore. I can’t take this shit anymore, I can’t take seein’ things and thinkin’ things are real when they ain’t. An’ since I don’t have an answer for any of it, or any way to make it stop… Well, here we are.” He laughed, kind of sadly. “This last one was the straw that broke the camel’s back, I guess.”

The fox hesitated before speaking again. “... Are... you okay?”

Scourge huffed, pulling one knee up towards his chest and letting his other leg dangle off the bed. “I’m  _ tired.  _ I just want a good night’s sleep. I want all of this to be over, so I can take a vacation and  _ relax _ and not feel like I’m in constant danger of someone wanting to kill me.” He shook his head. “But no, all the shit I’m afraid of most keeps coming back to haunt me every night, and apparently one of the things I’m scared of most is  _ myself _ , and… and…” He tightly gripped the leg he’d pulled up to his chest, clutching it like a lifeline.

“Hey,” Tails said, his voice quiet. He instinctively reached out a hand to grab the older hedgehog by the shoulder, but he stopped himself. He wasn’t sure how well Scourge would react to touch. He might lash out, or think he was being attacked and reflexively attack back. “It’ll be okay, I promise. Things always get worse before they get better, right?”

“I don’t know if I can handle things getting any worse,” the green hog said softly. “I was just getting my ass kicked by Smalls, the Time Eater,  _ and _ my dad all at once. They turned me into a tiny little brat and they were going to  _ kill me, _ and it all felt  _ real. _ Then, I thought I woke up, I thought everything was going to be okay. But none of you could see me, and that  _ other me _ came in and went Super, and… you were all gonna die thinking I killed you.”

“We were… what!?”

“Yeah. There was another me, another Scourge. He had a fist full of Anarchy Beryl, he went Super, and he started beating the shit out of everyone and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I know, it normally sounds like it would’ve been a  _ good  _ dream for me,” he sighed. “But now, it’s the worst one I’ve ever had.“

“Well, if it’s any consolation,” Tails shrugged, “I think any doubts I had about you are gone now. Pretty safe to say you don’t intend to turn on us…”

“Yeah, y’think?” the nervous hedgehog said. “You guys are the only people I’ve ever hung out with who don’t wanna kill me, backstab me, whatever. As much as you all get on my nerves, I don’t… I…”

“It’s okay, I think I understand what you’re getting at,” Tails smiled. Scourge looked relieved that he didn’t have to continue talking.  _ ‘It’s kind of weird that Scourge, of all people, would have nightmares about us getting hurt. Of some twisted version of himself hurting us, no less. I never thought he would ever care about anyone other than himself… This really must have scared him. His ego is even bigger than Sonic’s, and he still asked for help…’ _ The two-tail decided to go for it, and put a hand on Scourge’s shoulder. He felt unbelievably tense, but the hedgehog didn’t flinch or pull back. “It’s okay, we’re all alive. No one’s hurt.”

Scourge sighed, shuddering. “Good. But there’s still the problem of  _ what the fuck is wrong with me. _ Why am I havin’ these dreams, why am I seein’ shit?” He turned his head to look at Tails. He looked worried, desperate even.

The fox shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know, and I don’t really have a way of looking into it. All I can do is guess.”

“So guess.”

“Um… The only thing I can really come up with is that you might have some form of… PTSD?”

Scourge’s expression went blank. “Uh, I think I just hallucinated again, because it sounded like you said  _ PTSD. _ ”

“I… I did,” Tails said sheepishly.

“But… no. No, that can’t be right,” the green one shook his head. “You only get that from… from bein’ in wars and stuff, right? That can’t be me…”

“Well… you were in prison for a year, and from what you told me, about constantly being in danger… That can’t be good for your mental state.”

“Yeah, but… but… Shit,” the hedgehog said weakly. The two sat quietly for a few moments, each struggling to think. It was a lot to process. The light from the candle on the nightstand flickered dimly, and the old house creaked.  _ ‘Shit,’ _ Scourge thought, even his thoughts feeling quiet and nervous.  _ ‘Shit, shit shit shitty shit fucking shit. I was really hoping this would be an easy fix. Y’know, along the lines of “kick the Time Eater’s ass” or “get all the Chaos Emeralds” or something. But if Tails is right, then…  This is serious. Really serious. What am I gonna do? I can’t live like this for the rest of my life! I… fuck, I could really use a drink right about now. What am I gonna do…  shit, what am I gonna do…’ _

“But, I mean…” Tails crossed his arms, “it hasn’t even been a full week since you got out. You could very well be fine in the long run. I don’t know.”

“Thought you were supposed to be the smart one.”

“Fixing a plane and diagnosing potential mental illness are two very different things, Scourge,” he said sarcastically. “But in the meantime, we should really tell the others about th--”

“No,” Scourge said sternly. “You’re not telling them anything. If they find out, it’s going to be from me, got it? Tell them  _ anything, _ and you’re a dead man.”

“I thought you didn’t want any of us killed?”

“I’ll get over it,” the hedgehog smirked. Tails snickered.

“Okay okay, I won’t tell anyone. But you need to tell them before this gets worse. ‘Cause if we’re fighting some monsters or something and you have a flashback in the middle of it, and you get hurt… Y’know, maybe that’s something we can prevent!” he said hopefully.

Scourge felt his stomach twist the slightest bit. It still surprised him every time someone expressed concern over him. It was definitely weird. He shook his head. “There’s already too much going on. If we’re going back to Mobius tomorrow, we all need to be focused. I had to tell  _ some _ one, but I can’t tell everyone. Not happening.”

“That’s a dumb reason and you know it.”

“Look, what do you want me to say? I didn’t want  _ anyone _ knowing about all this! I’m freakin’ out like a wuss over these nightmares, and I don’t need to get babied about it.”

“I guarantee none of the others will think any less of you--”

“I don’t care. Don’t tell them, end of discussion,” Scourge growled, crossing his arms and hunching forward.

Tails sighed. “Fine, you win. But… will you tell me when this happens again?

“Yeah, fine,” the hedgehog grunted. “Whatever helps you sleep at night, kiddo.”

“Cool,” the fox smiled with satisfaction. “Look, you’re not alone in this anymore. I’ll help you out as best as I can, if you let me.”

The Moebian felt relief at hearing those words.  _ ‘You’re not alone,’ _ he repeated to himself in his head. “Okay. Um… thanks, Tails.”

“Hey, no problem. You feeling okay now?”

“Probably not  _ okay, _ but… better than before, I think.” Scourge slid off the bed and stood up. He yawned. ”We’d better get some sleep. Big day tomorrow, after all. I’ll see ya in the morning, kid,” he said, leaving the bedroom and closing the door behind him. It shut with a click, and he turned toward the stairs, intending to head back to the living room. Back down there, alone… Images of Super Scourge flashed through his mind, and he got the chills. Something primal within him didn’t want to go back down there, didn’t want to move, afraid that he might see his alter ego down stairs, standing on top of everyone’s bodies.

After a minute, the door behind him opened again, Tails peeking his head out. “I didn’t hear you go downstairs… are you sure you’re okay?” he whispered. Scourge said nothing, but he stared, frozen, at the staircase. “Scourge? … Do you want to bunk in here for the night? I don’t mind. There’s plenty of chairs in here, one of us could take the bed and the other… could…” he trailed off. The hedgehog was still silent, but he turned to Tails and nodded. He shuffled back into the room, feeling simultaneously defeated and thankful, as Tails shut the door behind them.

ooo

Everyone woke up groggily the next morning, as apparently none of them had gotten a good night’s sleep. Whether it was nightmares, old memories cropping up, or just general anxiety due to the stressful situation they found themselves in, the group of six slowly trickled downstairs the next morning, each of them feeling tired and grouchy. The Sonics were the first ones awake, both excited to be going back to Mobius. They weren’t too excited about what they might find there, but at least they were getting a second shot at saving their world.

“Hey, Sonic,” the youngest hedgehog said as he entered the living room and collapsed into one of the chairs. His voice was still raspy with sleep, and his eyes still half-closed.

“Hey there, Sonic,” his older self replied, feeling a bit more awake. He’d been up for a little while, and had been borrowing Zonic’s helmet to check on the news from other dimensions; the Zone Cop had taught him the basic functions of his helmet’s on-board computer the day prior. He pulled the helmet off and set it down on the couch next to him. “So. Today’s the day.”

“Yep,” the kid replied, as if on instinct. “We got any pizza left?”

“Nah, I think we finished that off yesterday.”

“Aw. Bummer.”

“Hey,” the older Sonic said, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “Are you okay? We’re not usually this out of it when we wake up, what’s buggin’ you?”

“M’fine,” his past self said simply, not even looking up at him.

“You don’t seem like yourself, and that’s coming from the guy with the spooky evil eye and increasingly short temper. You worried about the Time Eater?”

He sighed. “What do you think, man? Of course I’m stressing out about the Time Eater, I’m in  _ way  _ over my head here. I save small islands from robots, that’s my gig. But now I have to save the entire multiverse from a creepy time monster from outer space? With alternate dimension versions of my future self? That’s kind of a big leap to make. Sure, I’m not fighting the guy alone, but… I’m still just a kid, y’know? This is a lot to handle.”

“Yeah… Yeah, I feel ya,” his older self chuckled. “Trust me, I’ve never had anything get this weird or out of hand before. I save the world a bunch, yeah, but it’s usually just  _ our _ world. And this is the first time I’ve teamed up with Zonic and Scourge, too. Wasn’t exactly sure what to expect there, but I think it’s turning out alright, right…?” His voice faded as he noticed the death glare the younger Sonic was giving him. “Ah, right. Almost forgot you hated Scourge for a second. How silly of me.”

“Yeah, no duh I hate him! You know about some of the crap he’s done?”

“Yeah, and I’ve experienced it first hand.”

“He’s  _ evil.  _ Not even Robotnik would murder someone in cold blood, at least not in my time!”

“Hmm… Eggman’s thought about it a couple times since then. Dunno if he ever actually went through it, but I see your point. Yes, Scourge did a lot in his past that leaves a nasty taste in my mouth, but you don’t know him yet like I do. You didn’t see him in Zone Jail.”

“So? I’ve seen him be a total asshole, snap that weird inhibitor collar on you-- he lured us to a murder house! We are in his murder house right now, and all you can do is go on about how poor, lonely, misunderstood Scourge really  _ can _ be a good guy if he just tries hard enough. It’s bull.”

The older Sonic frowned. How was he going to get through to this kid? He used to be stubborn as hell. “Okay, point taken. Can I tell you a story, though?”

“It won’t change my mind, but sure, go ahead.”

“Alright, well… A couple years ago, Scourge and I were fighting each other. He hadn’t been green for long, and I think he was just starting to think about conquering the multiverse. So he was trying to convince me to join him, ragging on about how we would be “twin, unstoppable kings” or something like that. But then, he said… He said that all it would take is one bad day, and I’d be just like him. I’d turn bad.”

“Yeah, right.”

“That’s what I said. I didn’t even give it a second thought. But then I turned it around on him, I told him that all it would take is a little selflessness and decency, and he’d be just like me. And then… he just had this look on his face, like he was afraid that I was right. I was totally sure of myself, but he… wasn’t. What I said stuck with him. We fought again a year later, and he still remembered what I said, even though I didn’t remember the conversation at all at first. I think… Maybe Scourge isn’t as confident in himself as he lets on. Back then, he wasn’t sure if he had what it takes to be a bad guy, and now he’s not sure if he has what it takes to be good.”

“So the guy has low self-confidence, so what? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Look, the point is, the guy is trying. He might not believe he can do it, but he’s trying anyway. And I think he can change--  _ has _ changed-- for the better.”

“I don’t. People don’t just change, not that easily.”

“Why not? We all grow and develop, dude. I’ve changed since I was your age.”

“Yeah, and that’s what scares me,” the kid said quietly, not intending for his future self to hear. He wasn’t quiet enough.

“Wait, what?”

“Hm? Oh, uh, nothing.”

“No, what did you just say?”

“Maybe I don’t want to change! Maybe I don’t want to be you!” the lighter blue hedgehog said harshly, his eyes wavering. “I’ve always been the guy with a plan, who was careful going in, who  _ hated _ fighting against Robotnik. But you love it, you trash robots and monsters for  _ fun!  _ You don’t care for collateral damage, you always just run in guns a-blazing, you’re so willing to trust and forgive literally  _ anyone,  _ and I just… That can’t be me. How the hell can you be me?!”

The older Sonic was shocked to say the least. He knew that his younger self didn’t exactly agree with his ways of doing things, but to be this concerned about who he was going to grow up to be… Honestly, now the elder of the two was wondering how he used to be such a worrier, someone more concerned with the past and the future than with the present. “I… wow,” he said, unsure of what to say after that outburst. He felt a little offended, that his past-self didn’t want to grow up to be him. What was going through that kid’s head…? “You’re right, we are different. Ridiculously different. But now I guess I know why you’re not willing to forgive Scourge and let him move on from his past mistakes. You don’t want to believe that you’ll change, so that means you don’t think Scourge’ll change either.”

“Shut up,” the kid growled, his hard, black eyes piercing into his future self. “Don’t bring him into this, this has nothing to do with him!”

“I think this has a lot to do with him, actually.”

“Don’t argue with me, Sonic. Just because you’re older doesn’t mean you know any better, don’t give me a reason to be mad at you too! I’m freakin’ sick of being mad at people!”

“So stop. Just calm down, and think things through. Hey.”

“I don’t even know what to think through anymore! The time stream is shattering, Tails and I are stuck in the future, I’m going to turn into a robot-beating psycho, and we’re in a murder house in an alternate dimension. This… this is all too much, dude. I can’t…”

“No, hey, hey, hey. C’mon, look at me,” the scarred hedgehog said, placing a hand on the smaller one’s shoulder and getting his attention. “You know everything is going to turn out okay, right? Listen to me. You’re  _ Sonic the Hedgehog. _ Nothing gets you down. How do I know? Because nothing ever got  _ me _ down. And even if it did, we faked it. And when you fake confidence enough, you fake that taking down Robotnik isn’t hard, but a fun pastime… I faked it enough that it became true. I  _ got _ more confident, I  _ got _ more skilled, I  _ got _ better at beating Egghead and it started being fun. It’s not something that happened overnight. I didn’t even realize I used to be so different until we met,” he cracked a small smile. “You’re so worried about changing, and not being yourself. But I never even noticed anything about me was different, I still felt like me. I’m still Sonic, just as much as you are. It’s… something that’s gonna happen naturally, kiddo. It’s going to be okay. Take it from someone who knows, you’re going to be  _ more _ than happy with the person you’ll become.”

“You… you mean that? You’re not just telling yourself that, you’re… I’m gonna be okay?”

“More than okay. We’re way past cool!”

The twelve-year-old snorted. “Oh gods, I take it back. I so don’t want to be you.” The two laughed as Scourge and Tails entered the room, with Zonic and Lil’ T trailing behind.

“Well,” the oldest fox said, “you two seem to be in a good mood today.”

“Oh, no, I’m stressed out like you wouldn’t believe,” the younger Sonic joked. “This whole Time Eater business is putting years on my life.”

“I can confirm,” his older self raised his hand. “I have in fact, aged significantly since this kid showed up.”

Zonic shook his head. “Don’t even joke about that stuff, Prime,” he chuckled, stretching his arms out behind his head. “So. We doing this thing, or what?”

“Uh, right,” Tails rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “We left the backpacks by the fireplace. They should be all loaded up and ready to go, food and water included. Not all of them have flashlights though, I think we could only find enough batteries for three. Zonic, your helmet has a light already, right?” he asked as everyone started picking up their packs. It was a lucky thing that Scourge had had a different backpack for every year of school he’d attended when he was little. The packs were small, but the plan was to travel light anyway, so it worked out.

“Yeah,” Zonic answered Tails’s question, “so I don’t need a pack with a flashlight in it. Looks like they all have a candle or two in them anyways…”

The fox nodded and started listing off on his fingers. “Mmhmm. Food, water, flashlights and candles, some of them have multitools inside, those we found laying around the house… Lil’ T and I were considering grabbing blankets or sleeping bags or something, but those would be too bulky to carry around. Oh, there’s some first aid supplies in each, and one of them has a flare. Because this seems like the kind of scenario where a flare would come in handy.”

“Cool,” Mini-Sonic remarked, digging through his bag’s contents. “Nice work, guys. Who’s carrying the Chaos Emeralds?”

His older self swung one of the backpacks over his shoulder and picked an Emerald up off of the coffee table. “There’s six Emeralds, six of us. One for each of us. Simple.” He slipped the gem in between his quills and tossed another one to the other Sonic. “So is that it? Are we… ready to go back to Mobius?”

Scourge shrugged a backpack onto his shoulders. “I’d say breakfast first, but… Don’t think I’m in the mood to eat anything. Not like there’s much more edible food in this joint, anyway.”

“Yeah, moldy cereal’s gross!!” the younger Tails piped up excitedly, before he remembered that he was supposed to be mad at Scourge. “And I’m not hungry, either,” he said much more calmly, turning away from the green hedgehog.

“You guys sure?” Zonic asked, putting on his helmet and gauntlets. He tightened up the straps, and while they were still a little loose, they would have to do. “This is probably going to be a one-way trip. Once I open the portal, we have to go through, and we might not be able to get back until we defeat the Time Eater.”

They all looked around at each other. This was it. They were all saddled up, all ready to go. It was time to get the last Chaos Emerald and end this nightmare, once and for all. The Sonics nodded, everyone else following suit. None of them were sleepy anymore.

“Okay,” the Zone Cop nodded with them, hand on his belt buckle. “Then here goes nothing…!” He pressed the button on the buckle and an orange portal opened in front of them with a  _ zoop! _ It seemed to be shaking and flickering slightly, as if it didn’t want to be open at all. “It’s unstable, probably because it knows that Mobius is a hellhole right now. We gotta get through, now!” Zonic led the charge through the portal, everyone holding their breath as they passed through. What would they see on the other side?

The unstable portal, once they had all crossed through it, collapsed on itself and vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The good news was that they landed on the ground (still rumbling slightly, but otherwise stable), and there was breathable air in the still-existing atmosphere. But other than that, Mobius was not looking good at all. They had landed somewhere completely unrecognizable. There was little plant life anywhere, and the ground was barren and craggy. There were small pits of lava bubbling up here and there, and deep crevices that scarred the earth. Sticking out of the floor at odd angles were buildings and monuments from all time periods, from all areas of the globe. Ancient echidna temples, futuristic skyscrapers, country farm houses, famous statues, all scattered about the place in a huge mish-mosh of eras. The sky was dark, with ominous storm clouds swirling above and lightning crackling high up in the atmosphere. The harsh winds that had plagued the Marble Zone as it fell apart were gone, leaving the world feeling deathly still. Everything was silent. Even with the occasional pool of lava around, Mobius felt cold, sending a shiver up everyone's spine.

"What is this place...?" Lil' T wondered aloud, staring wide-eyed at the clashing bits of architecture. "Where... When are we?"

His brother walked slowly ahead of the group and stooped low to the ground, running his gloved fingers through the fine layers of dust and dirt that coated the ground. He felt the grains run through his fingers and frowned. He looked up at his surroundings, trying to remember what he knew about Mobian history. "I'm not sure," he said sourly. "It's almost like... all of time is happening at once."

_ "All of time?" _ Scourge asked, raising an eyeridge. "If I weren't seein' this with my own eyes, that would sound like the stupidest thing I've ever heard," he muttered. "So is time just not working here anymore? Like everything condensed, and then just kind of... froze?"

The older Sonic shook his head. "I gave up on figuring out whacked out time physics a while ago," he sighed. His world... It was still there, still alive, in the most basic sense of the word. But everything that made Mobius _ Mobius _ was in the process of being erased forever, and his planet was a confusing jumble. He was glad it wasn't gone, but to have it like this wasn't much of an improvement. "So. Seventh Chaos Emerald. Anyone have any ideas where we should start looking?"

"Not one," his past self groaned. "We can't sense anything with the planet like this... With everything happening at once, the energy is so out of whack. It's a total crapshoot."

"Well," Zonic said, flipping his visor down over his eyes and scanning the area, "we know the Time Eater and its goons feed off of Chaos Energy. If we find the monsters, we find the Emerald." Something on his visor  _ ping _ ed and lit up. He was picking up life signs in the distance, but he couldn’t see anything from where he was. He zipped up the nearest building, perched on the roof of an old stone house. He had the visor zoom in to amplify his vision. “What the..”

Tails flew up next to him and looked in the same direction. “So, what’ve you got?” he asked, unable to see anything himself.

“There are people alive over there, but…” Zonic frowned, flipping up his visor. “Just follow me.” He hopped back down to the floor and sped off, leading the rest of the group towards some mountains and skyscrapers in the distance. Sonic had to pretty much be dragged along behind everyone else, his own legs not wanting to move fast enough to keep up.

Even though their destination wasn't exactly close, the fact that they were traveling along at several hundred miles per hour should have meant that they arrived there rather quickly. But since the 'per hour' part didn't apply anymore, it felt a heck of a lot longer. As they went, they passed giant nests of dinosaur eggs, Gaia temples, crashed bits of the Space Colony ARK, and other artifacts from different times and places. It was almost like walking through a giant history museum, only this museum included exhibits on the future as well as the past. If the world as they knew it weren't on the verge of ending, it would have been fascinating.

The figures that Zonic had spied were finally coming into view. They weren't time monsters, but people, frozen in time. Not completely frozen though-- they were moving, albeit very, very slowly. They were all porcelain white, reminiscent of what happened to the people the Time Eater abducted when it was in Eggman's control. They looked like they could have been statues.

It was a whole crowd of people, all seemingly lost in their own world. The small group of zone-hoppers infiltrated the crowd, looking around at everyone and trying to get someone's attention. No one paid them the slightest attention; it was like they were invisible.

"What happened to all of them?" Sonic grimaced, looking at all the faces. He managed to recognize a few as citizens of Station Square, and he suddenly felt sick to his stomach. He  _ knew _ these people. And now, they were like ghosts. Maybe that's what they all were... simply living out their final moments before Mobius was consumed by the Time Eater. "Are they... dead?" he asked quietly, his spines shuddering.

"No, I don't think so," Zonic said. He lifted up to his gauntlet up to one of the wandering people and scanned her. "No, they're all definitely alive. I'm picking up life signs, although it seems like their vitals are all extremely low. Then again, they all seem to be operating at a much slower clip than we are."

Sonic sighed with relief. They weren't dead. And if the people of Station Square were still alive, there was hope for everyone else on Mobius, too. If they could just undo the damage that had been done, maybe they could revive everyone. He wandered through the crowd some more, silently wondering if there were any clues lying around about where the Chaos Emerald was. Out of the corner of his eye he saw two people running, albeit at a snail's pace. Curious, he turned and looked, his eyes shooting open. Without hesitation, he ran as fast as he could over to Amy and Knuckles, both of them turned completely white. He wasn't sure whether to feel happy or sad. Glad that his friends were still alive, upset that they were practically frozen in time and had no idea what was happening. Their faces were determined, like they were on a mission. Did they know what was happening?

“Knux… Amy…” he breathed, reaching out to grab their shoulders. He suddenly felt something pull him back.

“No!” Tails yelped, yanking him away. “You don’t know what’ll happen to you if you touch them! You might become like them,” he said, feeling just as conflicted about Amy and Knuckles as the hedgehog did. He hated seeing his friends like this, but it was better than not seeing them at all. 

A sigh. “You’re right, kiddo. I just… I wish they could be here.” He stepped away from his friends, guilt rising in his chest. It was his fault they were like this, after all. “We should probably get out of here. I just hope they’re both okay.”

A low roaring noise suddenly hit their ears, coming from the other side of the nearby mountain. The mountain was incredibly tall and steep, and looked like something that couldn’t exist in the real world. Something huge and dark started to descend its cliffs at breakneck speed. The further down it went, the clearer it became that the something wasn’t just one thing. It was like a tidal wave, a wave of time monsters flying towards them.

“Yeah, I ain’t fighting that,” Scourge said, looking up at the oncoming swarm in disbelief. Everyone else quickly agreed with him and immediately began to run in the opposite direction. Sonic and Tails had to be pulled away from Knuckles and Amy (“They’ll be fine! There’s nothing we can do!” Zonic told him), and the group suddenly found themselves being chased.

“Just find the monsters, eh?!” Mini-Sonic yelled over the roar of the monsters. The beasts were running faster than they had ever before; whether it was because they were more powerful here or just because there were a lot of them using their powers at once, no one could tell. But they definitely meant business, and there were way too many to ever hope to take on.

“Well, they found us and our Emeralds instead! So sue me!” Zonic yelled back, clearly not in the mood for discussing this. He glanced backwards to see that the wave of monsters was gaining on them, and fast. “We’ve got to find a place to hide! We can’t run away from these goons forever!” he said, directing the others.

“But where?!” Lil’ T asked, clinging to his older self’s back. “We have six Emeralds, they’ll find us if we try and hide anywhere near here!”

"We don't need to hide," Scourge said, "we gotta go somewhere they won't, or can't. I'll be right back." Without warning, he accelerated to max speed, flying past the sound barrier and leaving the rest of them in the dust. Before anyone had the chance to consider the possibility of the green hedgehog ditching them and saving his own skin, he returned, joining back up with them and matching their running speed again. "Cave coming up in about two miles" he said, completely focused. "It looks deep, we can escape through there."

"And when the monsters inevitably follow us in?" Mini-Sonic asked.

"Easy. I'll spindash the cave walls, make enough debris that it blocks off the entrance. We can plow back out later, when the coast is clear. Even if it doesn't stop them, it'll slow them down."

No one exactly liked that their best plan at the moment was to trap themselves in a cave and hope the monsters didn't break through the walls, but there was no time to argue or to come up with something better. The three hedgehogs still capable of supersonic speeds grabbed a hold of Sonic and the two Tailses before blasting off in the direction Scourge had indicated. They blew through the two miles in no time, and made a sharp turn to make it into the cave. As soon as they were inside, the green hedgehog blasted himself into the walls and ceiling, causing parts of them to collapse. He jumped back away as rocks tumbled down, forming a wall between them and the outside.

Everything suddenly went quiet, save for the sounds of coughing on dust and debris. It was pitch black, and none of them could see a thing. The atmosphere was tense, and no one moved a muscle. Had the monsters seen them come in here? Or would they run past the cave, not suspecting a thing? Would they turn back around, realizing they had somehow run past the Emeralds they were chasing?

Zonic placed an ear to the collapsed wall and listened carefully. He heard the trembling sounds of the hoard approaching and held his breath. He slowly released it, though, as he heard the sound fade away into the distance. They had lost the monsters. They were all safe, for now at least. "They're gone," he said, stepping away from the wall. "I've never seen that many time monsters at once... Guess it's to be expected, now that they've turned Mobius into their own personal playground."

"I want to know what happened to all those people back there," Sonic said, sounding tired. "My friends were back there. Why were they all... ghost-y? And were they hurt by the monsters when they barged through there?"

“I don’t know,” Tails said, breathing heavily after the intense sprint. “At least we know they’re alive.”

"HEEEYYY!!" Tails' younger self suddenly yelled into the the cave, listening to the echo that reverberated off the walls.

"Shh!" Mini-Sonic hissed, clapping his hand over the fox's mouth. "Do you want those guys to come back? What are you doing??"

"This place must be reaaalllyyy big!" Lil' T said, wriggling his way out of the hedgehog's grip. "Maybe there's something cool in the back! Sonic, can we 'splore it?"

"I don't think so, kid," the light blue hog said. "Remember what we found the last time we went exploring?" He turned his head a fraction of an inch and glared at Scourge through the corner of his eye.

"Guys, shh," Zonic whispered, holding a finger to his lips. "I think I hear something out there." He pressed his ear up against a small hole in the pile of rubble and listened closely. At first he heard nothing, but a dull rumble slowly came to his attention. He looked out through a small crack, and saw plumes of dust in the distance that were getting closer. "I think they're coming back," he said harshly. "They must've figured out that we didn't outrun them. We don't have a lot of time," he said, stepping away from the wall and turning back around.

Scourge pulled a flashlight out of his backpack and switched it on, the small halo of light illuminating the inside of the cave. "Sorry, kids. Exploring it is."

 

They had started off down into the cave at a decent clip, but had to slow to a walk when the older Sonic couldn't keep up anymore. The scarred hedgehog wasn't happy about his lack of mobility, and was in a sour mood. The two Tailses tried to keep the mood up, but seeing as they were fleeing into a deep cave on a broken, confused Mobius that was overridden by time monsters, there wasn't much of a bright side to be found.

Zonic took the lead, the headlamp on his visor powerful enough to cut far into the darkness. The rest filed behind him, occasionally mumbling "careful, there's a hole," or "jeez, this is getting steep." They were definitely heading downward, deep underground. Whether the cave would stop abruptly or actually lead anywhere was yet to be seen.

After walking for a while in silence, the younger Sonic brought up the fact that they didn't have a plan for what they would do once they found the seventh Emerald. The group tossed some ideas around on how to handle the Time Eater, ranging from sneak attacks to all-out charges to traps. Unfortunately, planning an attack on a creature that could easily alter the flow of time wasn’t simple. Even if they came up with a plan, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t fall apart halfway through. Plus, they didn’t even know where the Time Eater was, and they currently had no way of tracking it down. Plotting a sneak attack is impossible if you don’t know where your enemy is, or what the terrain of the fight will be like. Even coming up with an idea of how to trap the beast was tricky, since Chaos energy was a fickle thing. The Chaos Emeralds held unlimited power, unlimited potential. The only limiting factor is the wielder’s own energy. A person could theoretically use the Chaos Emeralds to create entire worlds, create life. But the strain of having all that power coursing through one’s body would be too great, and the wielder would probably die in the process. Knowing one’s limits with the Chaos Emeralds was something that came with years of experience, something only the older Sonic had. Using the Super form to fight the Time Eater was entirely possible. Using the form to entrap something so powerful was a  _ lot _ riskier.

“So basically,” Scourge said, “We don’t know what the Time Eater is capable of, where it is, or how to kill it. And we also can’t use the  _ unlimited power _ in the Emeralds to do whatever we want to the thing. Great, we are so prepared!” he said sarcastically, throwing his hands up. “Not to mention, we can’t leave this cave unless we want to fight a lifetime’s worth of monsters, but we’ll probably need to get out of here if we want to find the last Emerald. Someone tell me how we got into this mess, because we must have fucked something up at some point in this whole adventure.”

“Scourge, shut up,” Zonic groaned, trying to tune him out. They all knew their situation was bad-- they didn’t need reminding.

“Sorr-ee. You’re the one with the magic teleport belt, you want to get us out of here?” the green one rolled his eyes.

Zonic turned around to face him. “I could barely get us to Mobius in the first place! We  _ knew _ this would be a one-way trip, so unless someone wants to risk using Chaos Control to get us all out of this place, we’re just going to have to suck it up and stick this out.”

“We can’t stay in this freakin’ cave forever!”

“You’re the one who said we should come in here in the first place!  _ You’re _ the whole reason we’re stuck down here!”

“Guys,” Sonic said, “calm down, alright? Fighting isn’t going to fix any of this.”

“Oh, and what do you suggest we do?” Scourge glared. “Sit around and just twiddle our thumbs until something happens?”

“I suggest we figure out a way to go from here,” the injured hedgehog said, pointing to the fork in the road in front of them. There were three different ways to go, each one leading further down into the earth.

“Oh, good. Not only are we trapped down here by the freakin’  _ ocean _ of bad guys at the surface, but now we have the added bonus of being able to get lost!”

Lil’ T marched up and pushed Scourge, causing him to stumble backwards. “Stop yellin’ at him, you, you… you asshole!” he shouted.

The others all erupted, yelling choruses of “I ain’t yellin’ at him!” and “Tails, don’t say words like that!” and “Guys, shush! We need to keep moving!” The echoes shooting around inside the cave were making it hard to hear who was saying what, and all the voices blended together into just noise. The only person not yelling was Sonic, who was standing back from everyone else and clutching his head in his hands. The noise pierced through his ears, hurting his head. He couldn’t think, he couldn’t concentrate. It felt like someone was taking a hammer to his skull and pounding away.

“Guys, stop,” he groaned quietly as the tunnel shook the slightest bit. No one heard him though, and the five others continued yelling and arguing amongst each other. “Guys,” Sonic said a little louder. Still no response. He clenched his eyes shut. The pain was too much, he couldn’t take it.  _ “Guys!!” _ he shouted, his voice towering over those of the others. The rest of the group immediately stopped talking and turned to look at him. Before Sonic could say anything else, the ground started to shake. Violently. They all tumbled to the floor as the entire cave quaked. Small rocks began to break off of the ceiling and fall to the ground, and cracks began to appear in the roof of the cave.

“It’s gonna cave in!” one of them shouted, no one paid attention to who. “Move,  _ move!! _ ” They wasted no time scrambling to safety, barely even getting to their feet. Huge chunks of rock began raining down on them, sending dirt and dust flying. The way back out was blocked as the ceiling completely collapsed.

The rockfall ended as soon as it started. A few small stones tumbled down the impenetrable pile of rock.

Everything was quiet.


	26. Paradox Energy

_ ‘Ugh... What just happened? Oh, my head…’  _ Sonic thought, his brain pounding. He felt like someone was drilling into his skull, the pain was that sharp. What was going on? He remembered being handed the Chaos Emeralds, and then… he couldn’t remember past that. He opened his eyes, only to find himself surrounded by darkness. Brilliant. He couldn’t hear anything either, besides his breathing and a sharp ringing in his ear. Where were the others? Even if they were all unconscious, he should at least be able to hear something. He tried to sit up before he realized that he had a small pile of rocks and debris on top of him. He got to his knees, knocking the rocks off, and from there sat down. _ ‘Alright, two arms, two legs, head. Check. Well, I’m all in one piece. But what about everyone else?’ _ he wondered. Where were his friends? He cleared his throat and found himself coughing. His lungs must have been filled with a healthy dose of dust and dirt from the cave-in (at least, he assumed it was a cave-in, from the rocks that were on top of him).

“Guys? Are you okay?” he asked hoarsely, slowly climbing to his feet. His question received no answer, and that worried him. “Guys?” he asked again. “Hello, anybody home?” He looked around, his one darkened eye not showing him anyone nearby. In fact, it looked like the whole ceiling had come down, blocking him off from the hallway they were just in, and by extension, his friends.

Sonic the Hedgehog was alone.

“Oh no,” he gasped, walking towards the newly-formed wall. “Oh no… Tails!! Lil’ me, Lil’ T! Zonic, Scourge, anybody! Can you hear me? Guys?!” He nearly collapsed onto the pile of rubble. He hurt all over. He was tired. And his friends could be dead, crushed under tens of tons of boulders.

“Maybe I can Chaos Control to the other side… Maybe I can see if any of them made it,” he wheezed. He went to pick up his Emerald, the yellow one, but as his fingers curled around it, he got a bad feeling. Hoping it was probably nothing, he focused his energy into the gem, which began to glow white hot. The Emerald was… burning him?! Sonic dropped it on the ground and clutched his hand. His glove was burnt, even crispy in a few places. “What the heck was that? The Emeralds have never done that before… It felt like it didn’t like me for some reason, like it didn’t want to share its power with me.” He grunted and pulled his burnt glove off, pitching it at the wall with disgust. “Why can’t I use the Emerald? Am I suddenly not good enough for it? I thought I had some sort of special connection to them! Why can’t I use them?!” He kicked a fist-sized rock that was sitting on the ground, sending it shooting into the darkness. He sat down on the ground, frustrated.

“Just great… I can’t run, I can’t possibly dig my way through this wall to try and find the others, I can’t use the Chaos Emeralds… I’m useless.” He brought his knees to his chest and buried his face in his arms. He had never felt useless before. And he had to say, it was one of the worst things he’d ever felt. His friends could be hurt or dead, and there was nothing he could do. Sonic the Hedgehog was never useless. When Robotnik first attacked Green Hill when he was ten, he was able to stop him. When Chaos nearly wiped Station Square off the map, he stopped him. When the Doc blew up half the moon and threatened to destroy the entire planet, he stopped him. But this time, one little scratch on the chest from a stupid monster prevented him from doing anything. He could barely move or keep his emotions in check. And now he couldn’t tap into the power of the Emeralds. He wouldn’t be able to rescue his friends. He wouldn’t be able to defeat the Time Eater. He wouldn’t be able to save Mobius, or any other world for that matter. He wouldn’t be able to save anybody.

The realization hit him like a ton of bricks. He felt like throwing up. He felt like his chest was on fire. He felt like… no, wait, he really did feel like his chest was on fire. He looked down to see his midsection glowing a deep purple. He groaned, his ungloved fingers clawing into the dirt below him. The pain this time was intense, and getting sharper by the second. “Really?” he growled, his teeth clenched hard. “Really, now you gotta go and spread again?” The pain flared up in response, slowly spreading through his arms and legs. “Well then, come on! Get on with it, just do it! We’ve been building up to this for what, more than a week now? Come on! Just spread to the rest of me already! Do it!!”

The pain flared again, as if the energy within the scar could actually hear and understand him. Heck, for all he knew, maybe it could. It didn’t feel like honoring his wish, though. It would spread and consume the rest of him all right, but it was going to take its sweet time doing so.

The pain shot through his arms first. Sonic had never seen the scar spread before, and he sure as heck didn't want to see it now. He closed his eyes, but for some reason that didn't make him feel any better. The wave of dark energy steadily washed over each of his arms, burning like hellfire all the way. He couldn't help but let out a pained yelp when the flames reached his already burnt hand, sending searing pain shooting up his already pained biceps and triceps. Once his arms and hands were as dark and scary-looking as his torso, it spread into his legs. Most of his right thigh was already taken over by the energy, but having the rest of that leg, as well as the other one, consumed at once was almost too much for the hedgehog. His legs were his life, his freedom, the things that made him _ him. _ And now they were being taken over by some stupid scar, the result of a bad mix of time and Chaos energies. He tried his hardest not to scream when the energy cloaked his legs, but he soon lost the battle. He was lying on the ground, face in the dirt, hands clutching anything they could so tight he thought they would break off. Hot tears were streaming down his muzzle and dripping onto the ground as his legs were overcome with pain. His arms were nothing compared to this. The flames seemed to move in slow motion this time, barely reaching past his knees. After an eternity and then some, the scar had spread all the way down to his calves, and was nearing on his ankles.

While almost being done with his lower-half, the dark energy was only getting started on his face. It had already taken half his muzzle and one of his eyes, and it was determined to take the rest. It spread up from his left eye, taking his ear next. Sonic heard an intense ringing, so high-pitched he slammed his ears down flat to his head to try and block out the sound. It didn't go away though, only dulling slightly as the pain moved forward. From there, it spread further back on his head, starting on his quills, as well as reaching to the other half of his muzzle. The simultaneous pain from both his head and his legs was almost too much for the hedgehog to bear, and he felt like he was going to pass out if it didn't stop soon. His vision began to darken at the edges- normally a sure sign of impending unconsciousness, but he was sure it was the scar spreading into his good eye. Soon, that eye's sclera would be as black as the other one, and his iris would be glowing an eerie lavender.

Finally, the pain in his legs had reached his feet, and eventually, his toes. He instinctively kicked his shoes off, his burning feet needing to be out in the open and not cocooned by the sneakers and socks. The scar was almost done with his head as well- his face was now entirely consumed by the dark energy, and his quills were just about at that point, too.

And then suddenly, it stopped. The pain was still there, obviously, and his whole body was extremely sore. But it stopped spreading. Was it done? Was that it, was there nothing left of the hedgehog to be taken? Sonic didn’t want to open his eyes to find out. He was in too much pain. All he wanted to do was to lie there in the dirt and wait for someone to find him. He didn’t want to move a single muscle. He couldn’t take a deep breath with his chest refusing to expand that far, so he took rapid, short ones instead to get the oxygen in. He had to remind himself not to start seriously hyperventilating, or else he could be in even deeper trouble. He wasn’t screaming anymore, which was good, but he was still crying, which was not so good in his book. He couldn’t stop it, either. He had been in too much pain, and now the waterworks wouldn’t turn off. He didn’t care no one was around to see it, he hated crying. Whether it was himself or someone else, he hated tears. The fact that they were his only managed to add insult to injury.

After a long time, the pain finally started to dull a little bit. Sonic’s eyes had dried by then, and he still hadn’t moved or opened his eyes. He resolved to try and move his body one part at a time, to see if he even still had a body after all that. He started with his feet. He wiggled his toes around, one foot at a time, each one sending a burst of pain rocketing up his calf. _ ‘Ow!! Ughh… yep, toes still there. I think that covers both my legs, let’s move on,’ _ he groaned mentally. He was too tired to test every body part.

He went to test his fingers next, when he realized they were still balled up into fists, clenching for dear life. He loosened his grip, letting the blood flow back into his fingertips again. That, of course, only brought the pain back, tempting him to just clench his fists shut again. Once he was sure that his hands would be okay, he moved onto his arms, managing only to twitch them gently without cringing from the agony. _ ‘When this is all done,’ _ he thought, his body tense, _ ‘I’m going to just curl up on the couch, drink a gallon of hot chocolate, and just marathon movies for a few days. I’m just going to not move. That will be my reward for getting out of here intact.’ _

He tried opening his eyes next. His entire field of vision was, unsurprisingly, dark and cloudy. He seemed to have some sort of night vision, with everything around him being outlined in a pale lavender color. He couldn’t see many details, but he could see. Well, at least it was something. His eyes hurt though, along with the rest of his head, like he had brainfreeze all over the place, coupled with what he imagined a hangover felt like.

“You… You happy now?” he gasped, forcing the words out of his mouth. “You’ve successfully consumed my body. Congratu-freaking-lations… Great, now I’m talking to dark energy. This is even worse than the talking to dead robots thing,” he smiled. Man, if Tails knew about this, he’d never let it go. Sonic felt his heart sink. “Tails… Buddy, you had better be okay,” he breathed. He couldn’t just sit here while his best friend could be under that pile of rocks. He needed to get up, no matter how much it was going to hurt.

He decided to treat it like a band-aid, and get it all over with at once. So, in one swift motion he got up to a kneeling position. If just twitching his toes around caused him pain, moving his whole body at once and actually putting pressure on his limbs made him feel like he was going to die. But he couldn’t give up. He had to at least try. So he pushed himself further, using the wall to help pull himself up to his feet. He groaned as he did so, his legs shaking. Would the pain just go away already? He walked himself slowly over to the pile of boulders separating him from everyone else, and started to pull away at some of the smaller rocks. “Come on bud, you in there? Just say something! You gotta be alive in there bro, you can’t just leave me hanging! Tails? Lil’ T, Sonic, Z, Scourge! This isn’t funny, _ just tell me you’re okay!” _

All of a sudden, he could feel energy pulsating around him, sending a shockwave up the walls of the cave. The ground rumbled, and more dust and small rocks came down from the ceiling. Sonic stepped away from the wall and held his breath. The rumbling didn’t last long, thankfully, and everything died down again. “Did… did I do that?” Sonic gasped, looking up at the ceiling. There were cracks in it, like lightning, and they all converged on a point directly above him. He gulped. “O-okay, what the heck was that? I’ve never been able to do anything like that before. I just made a shockwave out of nothing.”

He looked down at his chest and nervously put a hand over his heart. It was beating wildly, but it didn't feel warm, like it should have. It felt oddly cold. Sonic shuddered. "Maybe this is because of all the negative energy pent up inside me right now... That's why the ceiling caved in before, and that's what that shockwave was. Heck, it's probably why the Emerald doesn’t want me to use it, either. It doesn’t want anything to do with the dark energies..." He rubbed his arms with his hands, trying to get rid of the goosebumps that were forming. "But why? Why did I even make that shockwave? Is it something I just can't control, or...?" He shook his head and sunk back down to the ground. He knew he should try and get out of here, and follow the tunnel as far as he could. Maybe he'd find help, or his friends, or the last Emerald. But he just couldn't bring himself to move an inch. Not until he stopped hurting all over, and not until he knew what exactly the scar's energy would do to him now that his whole body was consumed by it.

"Maybe it has something to do with my emotions. Right before the cave-in when everyone was yelling and arguing, and then I sort of snapped at them... And just now, when I was freaking out about Tails and the guys..." He did his best to swallow the lump in his throat. His friends had to be okay, he told himself. They were all plenty strong, all stronger than he was at the moment. No way some stupid falling rocks would do them in. That wouldn't be an ending deserving of any of them.

He took a deep breath. He needed to calm himself down. If his emotions really were why he kept accidentally unleashing all this power, he would have to focus on keeping them in check. He needed to concentrate. He needed to detach himself from the situation he was in and just focus on being calm. He inhaled and exhaled shakily. He sure didn't  _ feel _ calm. He was in a lot of pain, and he was all alone, and nothing was certain anymore. In fact, the more he tried to calm down, the less calm he was starting to get. In the back of his head, he was scared. Scared for himself, scared for everyone else, scared for his home. He was trying to wear the same brave face he always wore, but he was scared.

He felt a tingling in his arms, somehow eclipsing the soreness. He opened his eyes and looked at the appendages, only for his eyes to shoot open. Strange, small tendrils of energy were coming out of his arms, almost like droplets of ink, only they were floating upwards. They slowly dripped towards the ceiling, detatching from his arms and fading in with the darkness. The more he looked at them, the larger the blobs of energy seemed to get. Sonic squeezed his eyes shut again and gripped his hands tighter around his biceps. What was happening to him?

Somehow he knew in the back of his head what was going on. _ ‘Fear… I release bursts of energy when I’m panicked, and these creepy little things start coming out of me when I’m scared, is that it? Boy, this just gets more and more fun by the second.’ _ Well, he was pretty thoroughly afraid, now that he had little droplets of energy coming out of his arms. He opened his eyes tentatively. The tendrils were skinny, and none reached higher than a couple of inches before they broke off, but it was still extremely unnerving. Watching the energy float and drip off his body, as if there was too much of it inside of him, as if he were  _ leaking... _ .  _ ‘Trust me, I want you out of my body just as much as you do,’ _ he thought. _ ‘I’d much rather wake up suddenly years younger, or something like that. I never asked to become a walking reservoir of dark time energy, of… of paradox energy, I guess you could call it. Yeah, that sounds pretty cool. Paradox energy. Whatever, the point is, I didn’t want this to happen! Not any of it! When the younger me and Tails got stuck here, I figured they could hang out for a while, and we’d send them back home as soon as we could. I thought finding the Emeralds would be just as easy as it’d always been, and I sure as heck didn’t expect that a silly little scrape I got while fighting a monster- the first monster! How lame is that- would cause me this much grief.’ _ He sighed. He really messed up this time. Of course, the one time he got himself into a heap of trouble just had to be the time that everything was at stake. Not just him, not just his world, but everything.

The little tendrils seemed to like the direction his train of thought was going, and started growing a little taller and fatter. Sonic held one of his fingers out and reached towards one of the smaller tendrils. He gently poked it, the little thing curling up on itself, disliking his touch. He only felt the touch through his finger and not through his arm, which appeared to mean that the droplets weren't physically  _ inside his arm _ , trying to burst out of his skin. That reassured him a little bit, and the tendrils shrunk a smidge in response. He touched another one, this one curling up as well. He poked its curled-up form, and it leaned away from his finger, not wanting to be anywhere near it. "Oh, don't tell me you're afraid of _ me," _ Sonic chuckled softly. He didn't dare laugh too hard, for fear of his chest aching even more. "I'm not going to hurt ya. Unless you're evil, of course, then I might probably hurt ya. But you don't seem particularly dangerous, just... creepy. Really, really creepy." The tendrils shrunk a little bit more. The hedgehog smiled. Maybe he could handle this, after all. He just had to keep his emotions in check, right? No small task given his current circumstances, but he might be able to manage.

Deciding to act while he wasn't drowning in self-loathing, slipped his socks and shoes back onto his feet (he had almost forgot that he kicked them off when the scar was spreading), and he got up, using the wall for help again. He knew that there would be no way back the way he came; not only was the path sealed up now, but blasting or digging through it would only cause another cave-in, he could feel it. Unless he wanted to put himself and possibly the others at greater risk, he was going to have to go the other way, down the corridor.

He looked as far as he could into the depths of the cave, which when the lights were out, wasn't very far. Even with his weird night vision, he couldn't see more than ten feet ahead of him. But there had to be something down there, right? He certainly hoped there was. Because if this tunnel turned out to be a dead end, he was stuck, and it was possible that there would be no help coming to bail him out. He gulped. "Well, I'm not going to get anywhere by just standing around and waiting here, am I?" he said psyching himself up. He picked up the Chaos Emerald that was lying on the floor. He might not be able to use it, but he could still pick it up, thankfully. Sonic stuffed the Emerald into his backpack and pulled out a flashlight. It blinked to life, illuminating the cave… kind of. The added light wasn’t changing how his blackened eyes were seeing, but it did let him see a little bit further. Every little bit helped, he supposed. He let go of the wall and put one foot in front of the other, clumsily making his way down the tunnel and walking into the unknown darkness.

ooo

He struggled along on foot, making his way through what ended up being a catacomb of tunnels. His body screamed in pain with every step he took, but he forced himself to keep going. He had to keep going forward if he wanted any chance of finding the others. He pulled out the Emerald and looked into it as he walked, trying to get his mind off of how sore he felt and how lost he was. The gem was as bright and lively as always, but he couldn't feel anything when he held it. He had always been able to feel them thump in time with his heartbeat, but now the stone was still. It had always felt warm to the touch, but now it felt cold as any other old rock. It was almost like it was a different jewel all together-- or if he was a different person.

_ 'Will I ever be able to get this paradox energy out of me?' _ he wondered sadly, energy dripping off of him and floating up towards the ceiling. _ 'I mean, my entire body has been consumed by this stuff. Maybe it's too late, and I can't get it out now. What am I supposed to do about that?' _ he thought as he trudged along. He had already gone a week without  _ really _ running, and he was miserable. There was no way he could deal with this for the rest of his life. Not only could he not run, he could barely walk. He leaned up against the wall of the cave to rest and catch his breath. He couldn't believe it. Sonic the Hedgehog, fastest thing alive, was out of breath just from  _ walking. _ It was embarrassing. He was so slow, so in pain, and the  _ moodswings... _ He was barely himself anymore. What he would give to be back with the others and to have the poisonous energy removed from his body.

_ 'Where am I, anyway? Or is this just 'generic cave' all the way down?' _ he wondered, looking around at the walls. They definitely seemed familiar, but it was like something was missing. The ceiling was high up, so far he almost couldn't see it. The walls were almost as high, and in fact were slowly changing from cave walls into tall buildings as Sonic walked forward. _ 'An underground city...?' _ he realized as he continued pushing himself deeper into the caves. _ 'It feels like I've been here before...'  _ As he went, the cavern morphed more and more into an urban area, seemingly ancient. Well, ancient in a different sense of the word. The buildings all looked relatively new, but they were built all with stone, with carvings and deep... blue? He guessed blue, gems laid into them. There were swirling pathways and loop-de-loops everywhere, something the hedgehog wished sorely he could run through and appreciate more. Sonic didn't know where he was exactly, but he had a nasty sense of foreboding for some reason. Like something bad was going to happen here.

He traveled deeper into the heart of the silent city, his body craving rest but refusing to give it. He could see stark white figures in the distance (or at least, they were brighter than everything else he was seeing), and he froze on the spot. What were they? They couldn’t be the Time Eater’s goons, those were dark purple and black. Sonic slowly got closer to the mysterious figures, trying to be stealthy as he did so. It was a bit difficult, seeing as he hissed in pain whenever he bumped into something or landed wrong on his foot, but the silhouettes didn’t seem to notice him. In fact, the closer he got, it became clear to him that they were people. Just like the people on the surface who had essentially been turned into white, lifeless statues, only these people were walking around a little bit faster. All of them were echidnas, which struck Sonic as particularly strange.

_ ‘Okay, clearly this is a city that existed a long time ago,’ _ he thought, peeking out from behind a building.  _ ‘But echidnas? I thought those guys only lived on Angel Island, and this doesn’t look like any ancient echidna city I’ve ever seen.’ _

Feeling more curious now, Sonic emerged from his cover, walking up to the nearest group of echidnas, all seemingly discussing something while walking along with baskets of food and water. Or at least, they seemed like they were talking. No sound was coming out of their mouths, but they seemed to understand each other perfectly.  _ ‘Huh. Looks like this flashback doesn’t come with sound,’ _ Sonic tilted his head. He approached the small group, all ladies, and walked backwards in front of them. They showed no sign of seeing him, and when he stopped walking, they strolled right through him. It was like he wasn’t even there.

_ 'Huh. Like I'm a ghost... I don't think I can interact with anything here, even if I tried,' _ he realized.  _ 'This is definitely weird. Where am I? When am I?' _ He tried looking around some more for some landmarks, distinguishing features or buildings, but nothing in particular was standing out to him. He knew he recognized this place somehow, but he just couldn't put his finger on it.

He would have loved to explore some more, but he needed to find the exit. He highly doubted the others were here-- wherever 'here' was-- since he couldn't hear anything in the city. It was like the whole place was on mute. He could hear himself stumbling and dragging his way across town just fine, so his hearing hadn't gotten messed up. This place was just bizarre, and though very pretty, sticking around wouldn’t help him find the others.

Sonic spent some time looking for an exit from the city so he could continue onward, desperately hoping that he hadn't come to a dead end. He was sitting on the curb, resting, watching the people walk by. They were all just going about their daily business. They had no idea that they had been ripped forward by the whacked up flow of time, and that the entire multiverse was in danger. They had no idea that one of the only people who could fix everything was sitting powerless on the side of the road. Sonic groaned, looking at the small droplets of energy coming off of his arm. "I hate you," he grumbled, glaring at the tiny black blobs. They swelled up in response, growing large enough that they easily broke off and flew up until they were far enough away that Sonic couldn't see them. He was overflowing with paradox energy at this point; the stuff coming off of him was just the excess.

His thoughts were interrupted by a crowd of blindingly white echidnas came running his way. He stood up with some difficulty, slowly pushing himself to his feet. _ 'What's going on?' _ he looked around, trying to see what was happening. There were too many people rushing towards him, and although they passed right through him, he couldn't see over all of their heads. He didn't have a way of getting to a higher vantage point that wouldn't kill him in the process, either. There was definitely some sort of commotion going on though, and it seemed big. So he pushed his way through the oncoming crowd of people, trying to get a sense for what they were all running away from.  _ 'It's not like it can hurt me, whatever it is,' _ he shrugged. He flinched as a drop of water fell on his head. He reached up to wipe it off. _ 'Rain? But we're underground,'  _ he thought, glaring down at the splotch of water on his hand. He blinked as more and more drops came down, surprising him further. He looked up and gasped loudly. The cave ceiling was filled with cracks like lightning, each one dripping water at a frightening pace.

Well, Sonic had figured out what everyone was running away from.

What happened in the next few minutes was like the skies opening up in a bad storm, only times a thousand. A tidal wave of water rushed from the ceiling, and Sonic wasted no time in following the thousands of escaping echidnas out of the city. He wasn’t fast enough to escape, though, and was swept forward by the wall of water coming towards him.  _ ‘HydroCity,’ _ he suddenly thought, fearing for his life.  _ ‘Guess it had to be dry at some point. Too bad I showed up on a bad day.’ _ He closed his eyes, too tired to fight. He could barely move  _ out _ of water. The added resistance, plus the whole not being able to breathe thing, and his inherent fear of the stuff made him feel helpless. There was no way he could fight against the current. He was being tumbled around and shaken up like he was a rag doll. He thought about Tails and the others as the last bit of air was slammed out of his lungs, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

 


	27. Molten Mending

It was pitch black and quiet. A few more pebbles fell from the ceiling, the sounds of their light impacts echoing throughout the long cave. Zonic pushed himself up to his knees with a groan. He grabbed his thigh, finding that it stung and was covered in blood. He’d slammed it into a sharp stone when the roof of the cave came crashing down, and he had a seriously nasty cut. But he could deal with that. He needed to make sure that the others were alright. He brushed the last couple of stones off of him and sat down, gritting his teeth and clutching the gash in his thigh to try and slow the bleeding.

“Guys? You all okay?” the Zone Cop asked, his young voice reverberating off the cave walls. He shivered when he couldn’t immediately hear anything. He couldn’t see anything in the dark, so he reached up to his helmet with his one available hand and flipped on his headlights.

There was a rustling to his left, and he was relieved to see a small blue hedgehog lying on the ground, covered in dust. “C’mon, just five more minutes… get that light outta my eyes!”

“Sonic, are you okay?”

The younger Sonic grunted in response. “My head hurts.”

“Yeah, I cut my leg.”

“Is it bad?”

“Not really,” Zonic lied. He didn’t know how bad the cut was, but it certainly didn’t feel good.

“So what the hell happened?”

“Cave in. Do you see any of the others?” Zonic asked, looking around

Sonic sat up, rubbing his temples and blinking furiously. “I can’t see anything with that stupid light in my eyes. Damn, that thing’s bright… Oogh, yeah, I don’t feel great,” he groaned, clutching his head as he struggled to sit up.

“Just lie down for now,” the No Zoner said, pushing himself back up to his knees. Blood gushed out of his thigh in response, even though he still had his hand covering his wound. He cursed under his breath, but continued to look around, shining his light over the crumbled rocks. The rocks had completely blocked them off from the path they’d just been on. If anyone was stuck under there… He gulped nervously. It was a  _ lot _ of rocks. His headlamp eventually passed over someone sticking out of the rubble. It was Tails, top half exposed, with his namesakes and legs buried under a pile of small stones and debris. “Tails!” Zonic exclaimed, beginning to drag himself over to the older fox.

“I’m okay,” the two-tail grunted, slowly pulling himself from under the rocks. Thankfully, his legs and tails hadn’t been crushed, just buried uncomfortably. He was able to free himself without too much trouble. “What just happened?”

“Not sure, the whole place just came crashing down,” Zonic huffed, relieved that the older Tails was okay. That made half of their team present and accounted for. But then, what about the others…?

“Hi Tails,” Sonic grunted, still lying down on the ground. He waved lazily. “My head hurts.”

“Did you hit it on something?”

“Quite possibly.”

“That’s probably why it hurts.”

“Ah. Thank Chaos we figured that one out,” Sonic joked, his hand dropping back down to his side.

“Yeah,” Tails sighed, inspecting the massive wall of rock that had just recently been a ceiling. A feeling of dread rose in his chest as he realized that he, Sonic, and Zonic were the only ones there. “You don’t think… the others are under there, do you?” he asked quietly, looking to Zonic. He looked just as worried as Tails felt.

“I hope not, but we should check anyway, just to make sure. Tails, see if you can find anyone else in that mess. I’m… I’m gonna see if Sonic’s okay,” he said, trying to sound confident.

“R-right,” the fox responded shakily, brushing some of the dirt out of his fur. He got to his feet and started moving some of the stones as Zonic pulled himself over closer to the youngest hedgehog, who was still resting on the ground. Sonic’s eyes were still closed, and he was rubbing his temples with his fingers.

“How do you feel, Prime? Can you sit up?” the cop asked, trying not to sound worried.

“Yeah yeah, m’fine,” Sonic groaned. “I just got a headache, but everything else is fine.” He sat up slowly, furrowing his brow and holding his head in his hands.

Zonic frowned. “You sure? C’mere, let me look.” He switched the headlamp on his helmet to a dimmer setting before shining it into each of the younger hedgehog’s eyes. “Pupil dilation is normal… Here, follow my finger. Just with your eyes.” He held up his pointer finger and moved it back and forth, which Sonic followed easily. “You don’t feel dizzy or nauseous or anything, do you?”

“Nope.”

“Alright, looks like you don’t have a concussion, so that’s a good thing,” the No Zoner said, relieved. He was glad he wouldn’t have to take care of two concussed teammates in one week.

Sonic nodded gently, blinking away the spots he saw from Zonic’s light. “Yeah. And you… you called me Prime. I thought you only called older-me that?”

Zonic shrugged. “I mean… you’re both Sonic Prime, so… why not? Guess I just haven’t talked to you as often, I dunno. Tails, you find anyone else?” he called over to the fox, still searching the pile of rocks.

“No… I don’t see anybody,” he sighed, discouraged. “I can’t believe this, this just keeps getting worse and worse. First we get stuck down here, then we were all arguing, and then this…! I really hope everyone else is okay…”

“At least we know my Tails is okay, right?” Sonic smiled hopefully. “If something bad happened to him, he wouldn’t be able to grow up into you. Right?”

“Normally, yeah, but…” the two-tail glanced between Sonic and the imposing wall of stone. “The way the time stream is right now, I don’t know if that still applies. Just because I’m alright doesn’t mean… I’m sorry, bro.” He sighed, sitting down on a large rock. The pile of stones that blocked them off from the others was completely still and impenetrable. There was no way through it that wouldn’t just bring more rocks down on top of them.

Worry clearly showed on Sonic’s face, but he tried to swallow it down. “Okay… Okay, let’s just go over our options. Zonic, can we teleport?”

“Not with my belt, it’s out of juice. We could probably Chaos Control, but that seems really risky. We don’t know how big the cave in was. We might ‘port right into the middle of another rock pile…” The Zone Cop looked nervous as well, wracking his brain to try and come up with a plan.

“Okay, um…” the younger hedgehog grasped for straws, his face falling a bit. “What about our communicators? Tails, you have one, and Z, didn’t you say your helmet can pick up the signals? Maybe we can talk to the others!”

Tails scrunched his face and looked down at the watch-like contraption on his wrist. It was still working, but the devices hadn’t exactly been reliable lately. In fact, they hadn’t been useful at all, mainly because they couldn’t receive a signal if there was any sort of time distortion going on. With time not flowing properly anywhere on the planet, it was entirely likely that any and all radio signals would go unheard. Still, the fox tried anyway, holding the communicator up to his mouth and pressing a button on it’s side. “Sonic, Scourge, Lil’ T, come in. Are you guys okay?” He repeated the message a few more times, but got no response. “Maybe their communicators broke in the cave in?”

Zonic growled, tapping the side of his helmet in aggravation. “I can’t get a signal at all… I can’t even get a message out to the Zone Cops. I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole planet is a dead zone.”

“Please don’t say the word dead,” Sonic shivered, running a shaky hand through his quills. “No, it’s… it’s okay. It’s okay! They’re fine, no doubt about it. They’re all too tough to be taken out by a stinkin’ cave in… Hah hah…” He tried to smile, but he could barely even manage that. He felt sick to his stomach, knowing that his friends, his  _ brother _ could be hurt and there was nothing he could do about it. He sunk down until he was sitting on top of one of the larger stones, his hands shaking.

“Sonic?” Tails asked, his brow furrowed. The youngest hedgehog didn’t immediately respond, simply staring down at the ground wide-eyed. The fox shared a glance and a shrug with Zonic before walking over and gently placing a hand on his shoulder. “Sonic,” he said firmly, standing in front of him now. “Are you okay? I expect you to be worried, but you’re acting weird, and you look like you’re going to throw up.”

Sonic took a deep breath, crossing his arms tightly across his chest. “Y-yeah, I’m just… Just trying something older-me told me. Gotta fake it ‘til ya make it... Y’know, maybe if I act optimistic about this whole thing, then…”

Zonic smiled at him. “I don’t know how well that’s working out, but I can appreciate the sentiment. Chaos knows we could use a little optimism right now.”

“Yeah, maybe all we need is some positive thinking!” Tails grinned. “We’ve gotten by on less than that before. Let me think… We were just at a fork in the road, and there were three paths we could have gone down. Right? It looks like we ended up in one of those new tunnels, since this seems to go on for quite a ways.” He pointed his flashlight away from the newly formed wall of rocks, slightly illuminating a long path that seemed to slope down, going deeper into the cave system. “Maybe the others ended up in the other tunnels.”

“And what, all of these paths will just converge at some point so we can meet back up with everyone?” Sonic asked, all traces of false optimism gone. “That sounds just a bit too convenient for me.”

“Finding this cave in the first place was convenient,” Zonic said. “Having a Chaos Emerald radar in your basement was convenient. Hell, the fact that older-you happens to know a guy with a teleportation belt was convenient. At this point, meeting back up with the guys doesn’t sound too far fetched.”

Sonic sighed. “Alright, I guess it’s worth a try. Yay, optimism,” he said, lamely raising a fist into the air. “It’s not like there’s anything we can do from here, anyway, what with how unstable this area of the tunnel probably is.” Just as the words left his mouth, the floor and walls gave a shudder, and a few small rocks broke off from the ceiling and fell down, dragging puffs of dust and dirt in their wake. “Crap, did I just jinx it?”

“We should probably get going,” the two-tail said quietly, shrinking closer to Sonic. All of his fur was standing on end, making his namesakes appear huge and puffy. “Grab your backpacks and let’s get a move on before this place starts shaking again.”

“My thoughts exactly, lil’ bro,” Sonic gulped, standing up. He gathered up the few items that had slipped out of his backpack earlier. “Z, you sure your leg’s alright? You okay to walk on it?” he asked, not looking up from his backpack.

“Uh,” the Zone Cop cringed, looking back down at his thigh. It was still bleeding, and probably wouldn’t stop anytime soon. But it wasn’t like it was going to kill him, it would just hurt like a bitch. “I think I’ll be fine, let’s go.” He stood up, trying to make the motion seem as natural as possible. It took a lot for him not to hiss in pain, his leg stinging from the sudden weight put on it.

“Nope. No, just-- just don’t. My BS-meter is going off the charts, man,” the younger hedgehog said, shaking his head. “You can barely stand up!”

“Curse you and your bullshitometer,” Zonic groaned, sounding defeated, as he gently lowered himself back into a sitting position.

“Why, what’s wrong with your leg?” Tails asked, shining his flashlight onto the No Zoner’s lower half. He and Sonic both cringed when the beam of light landed on a very bloody left leg. Zonic’s jeans had a few rips in them, and most of the blue denim had been turned purple. His thigh had a thick, jagged gash in it, and blood leaked steadily out of it onto his calf and onto the ground.

“What the hell, man?!” Sonic gasped upon seeing the extend of the injury. “You said it wasn’t that bad, that you could walk no problem! What’s the matter with you?!”

“I… I dunno,” Zonic said sheepishly. “I didn’t want you guys to worry, I guess… Guess it’s too late for that.”

“Yeah, a bit,” the fox said unhappily. “That looks pretty bad… I hope we have enough stuff to bandage you up with.” He dropped down to his knees and slung his backpack off of his shoulder, zipping it open and rifling through its contents to find the first aid supplies he packed. “I can’t believe you were about to walk on that leg, especially with all the blood you’ve lost. This isn’t like you… ah, there it is.” The two-tail pulled out of the backpack a large plastic bag, filled with a few rolls of bandages and some other medical supplies.

Sonic nodded with a frown. “Tails is right, ignoring something like this  _ isn’t _ like you. You’re a cop, you work with a team, right? I dunno, can Zone Cops just walk it off when they get hurt like this? ‘Cause otherwise, ya gotta let people  _ know-- _ ”

“Look, guys,” Zonic interrupted, “I know, playing this off like it was nothing was stupid, but we’ve got enough to worry about as it is! I didn’t want to bring the mood down any more. I get it, I should have told you right away, but is this that big of a deal? It’s not like I  _ was _ walking around on it or anything.” He pulled off his helmet and handed it to Tails, who needed the brighter hands-free light.

Sonic sighed. “Yeah, I guess it’s not that big a deal. But... “ he paused and licked his lips. “You sure you’re still a grown-up in there, man?”

Zonic froze, feeling his heart sink to his stomach.  _ Was _ he still himself? He’d occasionally been acting less mature than normal, but was being on Mobius Prime making it worse? He bit his lip nervously. “I think so… damn, I  _ hope _ so,” he said with uncertainty. “Thanks for freaking me out, Sonic.”

The younger hedgehog shrugged. “Sorry, but we gotta consider all our options. This is the final stretch, right? We get out of this cave, find the last Chaos Emerald, fight the Time Eater. We can’t afford to have stuff catch us off-guard. How’s he look, Tails?” He turned his attention towards his brother, who was wearing Zonic’s helmet and inspecting the wound.

“Like he needs stitches,” the fox clicked his tongue. “The best I can do is clean this up and wrap it up tight, but that’s not going to stop all the bleeding.”

“Shit,” Zonic cringed as Tails moved his leg around. “Can the Emeralds do anything to help?” he asked hopefully. The Emeralds could do pretty much anything, right? Because if they couldn’t, he might not be walking for a while.

Sonic’s expression soured. “Probably, but I have no idea how to use them to heal. I might’ve picked up a lot of older-me’s skills, but I’ve never seen him use Chaos Energy to patch someone up like this.”

“That’s because I don’t think he  _ has,” _ Tails shook his head. “He knows how to use the Emeralds to accelerate healing, but for anything this bad, it still takes a number of days, weeks even. According to Knuckles, healing with the Emeralds is  _ hard. _ There have been people who have been able to do it, but it’s not a skill most Chaos-users have. I mean, you could always try it, but…” he trailed off, unsure of what could possibly happen.

“It’s worth a shot, at least,” the youngest one said, reaching around to his backpack and pulling an Emerald from inside of it. He procured the Emeralds from Tails’s and Zonic’s packs as well, balancing all three in his hands. He kneeled down next to Zonic, getting a good look at his gash before closing his eyes. The Emeralds began to float out of his hands and glow with a steady pulsing light. Sonic scrunched his face in concentration, clearly trying his best. After about a minute of this, he opened his eyes to see that nothing had happened, that Zonic’s leg was still bleeding just as much as before. “Jeez,” he sighed, letting the Emeralds drop back into his hands. “That  _ is _ pretty tough. It kind of felt like… Like I was  _ almost _ there, but at the same time, I was miles away from getting it to happen. Did you feel anything at all?”

“Not even a tingle,” Zonic grunted, his leg really starting to sting and burn. “Thanks for trying, though.”

Sonic huffed in frustration. “So what do we do now?” he asked, looking to Tails for an answer.

“Patch him up as best as we can, I guess,” the fox shrugged. He wiped some of the blood away with the back of his hand and started bandaging up the Zone Cop’s leg. “It’s not like we can just sit here forever, after all. We’ll just have to take it slow is all.”

Sonic drooped upon hearing the word ‘slow’, but he didn’t complain. Zonic cringed as the bandages got wrapped tightly around his leg, causing it to flare up in pain. He clenched his teeth and dealt with it, not saying a word until Tails was done. Because he was still heavily bleeding, his thigh needed multiple layers of bandages before the blood stopped completely soaking through. When the deed was done, Tails was all out of bandages and Zonic’s leg was wrapped more thoroughly than a mummy’s. Not wanting to waste any more time in the unstable tunnel, the two able-bodied Mobians helped Zonic get to his feet. The No Zoner leaned heavily on Tails as they slowly started to make their way away from the rubble of the cave in, and hopefully headed towards the three remaining members of their group.

After walking for a while (no one knew exactly how long, since time didn’t exactly quite exist anymore), the tunnel they were in started to slope steeply downwards. They didn't have a choice but to go down with it, as there hadn't been any passages branching off of the main one that they could have gone back and used. The further down they went, the hotter the tunnel grew. Not just from the lack of fresh air from the surface, though. It almost felt like they were traveling to the center of the planet. The temperature soon reached 100 degrees, and even surpassed it.

"Why the heck is it so hot?" Zonic asked. It was  _ definitely _ too hot to be wearing a jacket and jeans, no matter how many holes they had in them by this point. He was feeling pretty jealous of Sonic and Tails, who had grown up in a culture where male Mobians wearing clothes was practically unheard of.

"I have no idea!" Mini-Sonic shouted. "It feels like the walls are about to burst into flames, for cryin’ out loud. If it gets much hotter, my shoes are going to melt!"

Tails couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. He knew for a fact that Sonic's shoes could withstand a lot more than the hedgehog could ever throw at them, even eight years ago. Still, it _was_ getting pretty hot. "Mobius is a giant mish-mosh of time periods right now, right? We must be walking into a different point in the world's history."

"What point?" Sonic asked. "The ‘unforgiving eternal fiery flames of hell’ era? Or the ‘hotter than a frozen pizza right out of the microwave’ period?”

Almost all at once, the floor underneath their feet turned from stone and gravel to steel plates. The corridor they had been steadily descending had opened up into an enormous cavern, seemingly miles across. Small factories, webs of metal scaffolding, and thousands of heavy rails and cables were sinking into a churning pool of lava below them. And to make matters worse, the place was infested with massive time monsters, each at least twenty feet tall, gorging themselves on the energy released by the crumbling time stream. “Oh, you have  _ got _ to be kidding me,” Sonic groaned, taking in the view. 

“Don’t tell me we have to go through there,” Zonic huffed, wiping sweat off of his forehead. He could barely handle walking downhill  _ with  _ Tails’s help. How on Mobius would any of them be able to get through this gauntlet?

“This is Hot Crater…” Tails said, mostly to himself, recognizing the landscape. It was hotter than he remembered it, and the giant time beasts were certainly new. “How are we gonna get through…? Because there’s no way I can fly Zonic all the way to the other side.”

“I guess we’ll just have to… take it slow and steady,” Sonic said with a visible shudder.

“I cannot believe those words just came out of your mouth,” the fox shook his head.

“With any luck, they’ll never have to come out of my mouth again,” the twelve-year-old chuckled. “We’re gonna have to sneak through here without getting spotted. I don’t particularly want to fight these big guys again.”

Zonic frowned, looking out to see just how many of the huge black-and-purple monsters there were. There were too many to easily count, there must have been hundreds. “You say that like it’ll be easy,” the Zone Cop said, leaning on Tails and keeping weight off of his bad leg. “I can barely walk, let alone navigate a fiery monster-infested hellscape. We have three Emeralds with us, so those things will be drawn to us like magnets.  _ Plus--” _ He flipped his visor down over his eyes and consulted the heads-up display. “Temperatures in there are approaching 120 degrees. So if we don’t get killed by the monsters, we’ll be cooked alive. This is a death wish.”

“Yeah, with that attitude, maybe,” Sonic said, placing his hands on his hips. “I mean, we knew when we came back to Mobius that we could very well die here. But if anyone can get through this, it’s us. We’ve got a flying genius, a high-ranking interdimensional police officer, and a guy that can run at the speed of sound. We’ll figure this out, no problem!”

Tails smiled, noting how much mini-Sonic sounded like his older self. “You’re already getting better with the whole ‘positive thinking’ thing.”

“What can I say? I got some big shoes to fill,” Sonic shrugged. “Come on, let’s get going. If we wait here any longer, I’m gonna start to melt. You holding up okay, Z?”

“My leg hurts like hell,” the Zone Cop cringed, “but I can keep going. If I need to stop, I’ll let you know.”

The young hedgehog nodded. “Alright. Let’s juice!” he said, leading the others slowly into the crater. The temperature increased dramatically as they formally entered the cavern, and the air wobbled and distorted from the heat. It wasn’t long before Zonic’s jacket was tied around his waist, and it wasn’t long after that that he’d taken off his t-shirt as well and stuffed it in his backpack. The heat was miserable. It was a miracle their shoes weren’t melting to the metal platforms they walked across. There were gaps in the platforms that Tails was able to carry Zonic across, but it was still slow going. No one talked as they went; it was hot enough without spending extra energy to try and have a conversation. Zonic could feel the sweat rolling in beads down the sides of his face. He had to flip up his visor, mainly because he couldn't see through the fogged-up plexiglas, but also because he didn't want to see the increasing temperature readings that kept appearing in his peripheral vision. Knowing exactly how hot it was wasn't going to make it any easier to get through Hot Crater. They were taking what looked like a direct route to the other side of the crater, where they could see an exit to the rest of the caves. There were tons of monsters around, but luckily, none crossed their path.

But of course, nothing lasts forever.

The trio were ducked behind a large hunk of metal, potentially an old motor, as one of the two-story time monsters lurked about. It was attempting to sniff out their Emeralds, and it was getting uncomfortably close.

Sonic cursed under his breath. “What do we do now?” he whispered, sweat dripping down the back of his neck.

“We need something to lure it away,” Zonic hissed. His leg burned from the strain of crouching down. “Preferably, that ‘something’ is  _ not _ you, carrying all the Emeralds to distract him. Is there anything else we can work with?”

“You have your gun?” Tails suggested.

“Yeah, but the sound’ll just lure it towards us. That thing is  _ big,  _ I don’t know if energy bullets will do anything to it. What’s in your backpack, anything?” the cop whispered harshly, instinctively moving his hand towards the holster around his waist. The monster wandered ever closer, and if worse came to worse, it wouldn’t hurt to try shooting it.

Tails quickly ripped his backpack off and zipped it open. There wasn’t much inside; the remaining first aid supplies, some food and water, and a red cylinder roughly the size of a flashlight. “Oh! Flare!” he said, removing it from the pack.

“Dude, nice!” Zonic nodded.

“Right on, lil’ bro! Light ‘em up!” Sonic said excitedly. Tails nodded and took aim with the flare. He aimed near the monster, not directly at it, intending to distract rather than harm. He lit the flare, and the charge shot straight out of the barrel and flew towards the beast. It erupted in a burst of red, grazing the side of the time monster’s face as it soared past.

_ “Crap,”  _ Tails said under his breath as the towering creature turned around, looking for the source of the flare. “I didn’t mean to hit it, I just wanted to divert it away from us!” the fox hissed, fear and guilt building in his stomach.

“It’s not your fault,” Zonic grunted, taking aim at the monster with his pistol. “Not like emergency flares are the most precise things in the world. Get ready!” He held the gun in both hands, trying to get his aim as dead-on as possible. As soon as the beast started lumbering in their direction, the young cop fired. The energy blasts landed scattered across its body as Zonic’s arms shook from the recoil. The three heroes waited with baited breath to see if anything would happen. Several shots had connected, but would that do anything to stop a monster that was almost seven times their size?

When the creature let out a distorted roar and started to bolt towards them, they realized, no, it wouldn’t.

_ “Now _ can I take the Emeralds?!” Sonic shouted, their cover thoroughly blown.

“And do  _ what _ exactly?!” Zonic asked, but the youngest of their trio had already grabbed two Chaos emeralds and bolted out from behind their motor. The monster immediately turned to look at him as he zoomed past. It stretched a grotesque hand toward him, and a bubble of air visibly distorted around Sonic. He slowed immensely, moving in slow motion. Zonic and Tails watched, afraid as the huge monster lumbered towards Sonic, ready to strike. Zonic cursed, trying to move but his leg not letting him. Tails had the third Emerald in his hand, and started to rush to his brother’s side, frantically thinking about what to do. It almost felt like  _ everything _ was moving in slow motion. Sonic was turning at a snail’s pace to try and face the monster, holding up his Emeralds. Tails flew closer. The monster’s hand was crashing down towards the hedgehog. Zonic raised his pistol, wanting to do  _ something. _

The beast’s hand lunged closer. Tails flew faster, holding out his own Emerald. Zonic fired a shot. Sonic was facing the monster, holding up both Chaos Emeralds as if they were a shield. The time monster’s outstretched hand grabbed for Sonic, hit the Emeralds, and all of a sudden, the bubble of distortion around the hedgehog disappeared. The beast roared in pain as its arm exploded into smoke. Everyone stumbled backwards, Tails tumbling to the ground, as the massive creature burst into the thick, time-distorting mist.

“Jeez, man,” Zonic gasped, breathing hard as his heart thumped heavily in his chest. “You guys alright?”

“Fine,” Tails called back, panting where he sat.

“I am  _ so _ glad that worked,” Sonic breathed, a slight smile forming on his face. “These things can’t touch the Chaos Emeralds, remember?” He picked himself up off the ground, eyes lingering on the spot where the monster used to be.

The fox nodded, holding up the Emerald that was in his hand. “Yeah, just like in Metal Harbor. Looks like we both had the same idea.”

“Mmhmm,” the Zone Cop said, sounding annoyed. “And neither of you thought to fill me in, huh? Whatever happened to sharing things with your teammates?” He leaned heavily on the old motor as he walked around it, coming out from behind the shelter.

Sonic shrugged, reaching to help Tails up. “Sorry man, can’t help that me an’ Tails think on the same wavelength. ‘Sides, at least I knew what I was doing and had a plan, right?”

“I guess,” the No-Zoner said somewhat bitterly. “The important thing is, you took that thing out, and you can do it again.”

“C’mon, it wasn’t all me,” mini-Sonic smiled, crossing his hands behind his head and walking over to the cop. “You kept cool and took charge! Trust me, I totally forgot that these things can’t touch the Emeralds until the last freaking second. If you hadn’t been brainstorming and buying us time, I might not’ve thought of it at all,” he said, giving Zonic a gentle punch on the shoulder. “And Tails, you were on the same page with  _ both  _ of us! You had that flare, and you totally had my back with that last Emerald. We all did our best, don’t go giving me all the credit.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay, Mr. Modesty,” Tails rolled his eyes with a grin. “What do you say we get moving again? That thing died pretty loudly, I’d hate to be around if its friends come to investigate.”

The youngest hedgehog nodded. “Good idea. We might be able to lay the smackdown on ‘em, but I hate getting slowed down like that. Feels…  _ wrong.”  _ He shuddered, a chill running down his spine. “Zonic, you ready to… Oh jeez,” he said grimly, looking at the Zone Cop’s leg. Crouching down behind cover had only agitated his wound, and blood was seeping through even the thickest layers of bandages. Zonic followed his gaze, grabbing his thigh with one hand to try and put pressure on the gushing cut. It flared with pain in response, and the cop cringed. He gingerly sat down, trying his best not to move his leg.

“Damn, I didn’t even realize…” he said through gritted teeth. His thigh burned, the pain getting even more intense.

“Aw jeez, that looks really bad…” Tails worried, kneeling down next to him. The blood was soaking through the layers of bandages, and Zonic didn’t look too good. It was too hot, and he’d lost too much blood. “I-I don’t know what to do…”

“You said the Emeralds could accelerate healing, right?” the Zone Cop groaned. “Even if it’s just a little bit, if it can help…”

“Uh, yeah, yeah,” Sonic said, handing over one of the Emeralds he held. “Here, I’ll keep the other one, just in case another one of those monsters shows up.”

“‘Kay,” Zonic said, accepting the gem quietly, taking the one from Tails as well. He took a shuddery breath and closed his eyes, and the Emeralds he held began to glow.

Sonic stepped away to keep lookout while Zonic tried to heal himself. The youngest hedgehog’s hopes weren’t particularly high to be honest. The officer was still incredibly inexperienced with Chaos Emeralds, unable to do much more than sense them from across the room.  _ ‘But I can’t heal him myself. And even if he can heal himself a little bit, will that really help at this point? His leg is a wreck… And we still have to get out of here, find the others, find the last Emerald, fight the Time Eater… Man, this doesn’t look good. I hope the guy is alright… I hope everyone is alright.’ _ He wiped the sweat from his brow. He knew he said before that they might not all survive this, but… he’d never fully wrapped his head around what that meant. That one of them might not make it out… He took a deep breath in and out. He sincerely hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

He needed something to drink. It was hot as blazes, and he was starting to feel pretty stressed out about the whole situation. He pulled his backpack off one shoulder and placed his Chaos Emerald inside of it before feeling around for the bottle of water that was inside. He found it easily, and the plastic felt uncomfortably warm. It was a miracle the water inside hadn’t evaporated. He pulled out the bottle and zipped up the pack, slinging it back over his shoulder. He looked around at the surrounding landscape as he unscrewed the bottle and took a swig of water. The rising heat made it hard to see clearly for very far. They were in the gutted remains of a factory, only the floor and bits of walls remaining. They’d just past the halfway point through Hot Crater, but there was still quite a ways left to go. More huge monsters could be seen lumbering in the distance, though it didn’t look like they would cross paths with another one immediately. That was good, since the bigger time monsters were powerful and not afraid to show it. The hedgehog had a feeling that his own personal time stream hadn’t been messed around with for the last time.

“Hey, Sonic!” Tails called, and the speedster turned around to face him and Zonic. “You’re gonna wanna see this!” the fox beckoned. His voice didn’t sound urgent or particularly worried, so did that mean he had good news? Sonic capped his water bottle and looked around once more to make sure they were still alone before he made his way back over to his friends.

“What’s going on?” he asked, and Tails pointed at Zonic’s leg. The Zone Cop’s eyes were still closed, as he seemed to be focusing pretty hard, so he didn’t acknowledge either of them. But his leg, surprisingly, was healing, and at a rate faster than anything Sonic had seen before. “What the hell…?” he gasped, watching in awe as the skin on Zonic’s leg slowly, but noticeably came together and fused, closing his gash.

“I-I was expecting some pain relief, maybe that the Chaos Emeralds would help slow his bleeding. But this… he’s actually  _ healing,” _ the two-tail said in disbelief.

Hearing that, Zonic’s eyes shot wide open, like he’d just suddenly woken up. “Wait, what?!” he exclaimed, apparently completely oblivious to the fact that he was healing himself significantly. His hands, each holding a Chaos Emerald, trembled slightly when he saw that the cut on his leg was somewhat smaller, and bleeding less. “Wh-what’s going on? How did I do that?”

Sonic looked at the young Zone Cop as if he were a different person entirely. “Dude, are you… are you a healer? Like, for real?!”

“But that wouldn’t make any sense!” Zonic insisted. “I’m  _ you, _ how can I have a power that you don’t?!”

“I don’t know-- don’t stop, keep going!” the Prime hedgehog urged, noticing that Zonic had stopped healing. The potential healer realized this as well, and quickly went back to channelling energy into his injured leg. “I don’t know if you can have different abilities like this or not. I’m not the one who knows how alternate dimensions are supposed to work.”

“Prime, my world doesn’t even  _ have _ Chaos Emeralds,” the No Zoner stressed. “I barely know how these things work! How  _ any  _ of this works! How can I have super Chaos healing powers if I’ve never even  _ held _ a Chaos Emerald before this whole damn adventure?!”

_ “Oh my gods who cares right now,” _ Tails deadpanned, interrupting their confused shouting match. “Who cares about the why and the how? I mean, yeah, it’s interesting, but it’s _ literally _ the least of our worries right now. Or did you two forget that we have to get out of here?” he asked, hands on his hips.

The two hedgehogs quickly shut up, and Zonic turned his full attention back to his leg. “Sorry, guess I got carried away with the details,” he said softly.  _ ‘And once again, even though I should be the oldest, I’m the least level-headed and mature one here. Dammit!’ _ he thought, feeling bitter about himself. Tails was right, they didn’t have time to waste bickering. He needed to heal up his leg, at least enough so that he wouldn’t have to worry about bleeding out and so that he could put some weight on it. It didn’t have to be perfect; he doubted he could get it perfect even if he tried. He didn’t seem to have a ton of control over  _ how _ his leg healed. The Emeralds themselves were taking the reins, but the fact that they were healing him at all had to mean  _ something _ special, especially when Sonic couldn’t get them to do it. His leg would definitely be scarred after this whole ordeal, and it likely wouldn’t be pretty, but as long as his condition improved, Zonic supposed he didn’t really care too much.

“Oof! What the?!” Sonic stammered as something shoved him forward. Everyone turned to see a time monster, a smaller one, make off with Sonic’s backpack, chittering excitedly. A number of others melted out of the shadows, and the area was suddenly filled with the black and purple creatures. About half of them ran off to follow the thief while the others stayed behind, ready to stop the hedgehogs and fox from making chase. Sonic clenched his fists angrily. “Oh no you don’t! That’s  _ our _ Emerald, you jerks!!” he shouted before quickly revving up into a spindash. Before Tails or Zonic could say anything to stop him, he launched himself at the nearest monster, plowing through it easily because of its small size. His momentum carried him through a couple more before he uncurled, leapt up, and started stomping on their heads.

“Zonic, I’ll cover you,” Tails said, taking a fighting stance as monsters started to approach.

“Thanks,” the Zone Cop replied, opting to focus on healing his leg for now. He’d be more help if he could actually walk, and these monsters were small enough that they were more of a nuisance than a huge threat.

Tails spun quickly in place, using his namesakes like sharp blades to slice through the attacking monsters. Sonic was going to town on them, releasing all his pent up frustrations and stress. The creatures tried using their time powers, but since they were small and disorganized, they could do nothing more than speed up and slow down small pockets of space. The supersonic hedgehog felt a bit strange as he traveled through the bubbles, but he continued kicking butt nonetheless.

The fox ducked under a monster’s punch, kicking its legs out from under it, before he got back up and kicked another one square in the head. It had been ages since he fought hand to hand like this. Luckily, compared to hoards of Eggman’s robots, the few monsters he was handling at a time didn’t pose too much of a threat. At the very least, they weren’t firing missiles at him. He sliced another monster clean in half, and mist came pouring out of it as it collapsed. The rest of the creatures were closer to Sonic, so Tails quickly turned to check in on Zonic. “How you doing?” he asked, taking deep breaths after his little workout.

“Almost there, I just need a little more time,” the No Zoner said, his face scrunched up in concentration. A large portion of his cut had been healed over, the new skin scarred and raw. His bleeding had slowed significantly, and while his leg still hurt like there was no tomorrow, he was at least confident that he wasn’t going to bleed out anytime soon. It was far from a perfect patch job, but it was better than anything he could have hoped for.

“Nice!” Tails said, giving him a smile and a thumbs up. “You’re doing great, keep it up. Sonic!” he called out to the other hedgehog, who was still in the middle of the fray. “How’re you holding up?”

“I’m! Doing! Great!” Sonic yelled back, punctuating each word with a kick to a monster’s head. He curled up into another spindash and quickly knocked down the remaining monsters that surrounded him. He finished them off with well-placed jumps, each of them bursting into smoke as they died. “Is that it?” the hedgehog asked, unable to see any more monsters that were moving. He wiped his forehead with his hand, dispelling some of the sweat. Cardio was  _ not _ helping him cool down.

“Yeah, I think we’re all clear!” Tails breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad he could still hold his own in a fight like that, at the very least. “Zonic’s almost done with his leg. You wanna go after those other guys, and we’ll catch up with you?”

“Just as long as you’re right behind me!” the twelve-year-old nodded. “I don’t wanna get separated from you guys, too!”

“Don’t worry,” Zonic said, feeling exhausted. “We’ll be there. Go and get that Emerald back!”

The youngest hedgehog gave them a thumbs up before he sped off, feet blurred into a red figure eight as he chased after the dirty thief of a monster and its friends. He felt relieved to run again, and much the landscape passed by in a near instant.  _ ‘I’m trusting you guys,’ _ he thought. The surprisingly speedy monsters were in his sights after only a minute or so, as was the cave leading out of Hot Crater.  _ ‘You’d better be right behind me, safe and sound!’ _ He felt oddly confident, though, and he smiled as he blasted towards the escaping time monsters. Time for a little more stress relief.


	28. Pyramid Cave Companions

Scourge groaned softly as the last of the rocks fell from the ceiling, tumbling to the floor. His ears were ringing, even though it was now almost completely quiet. At least he had cleared out of the way fast enough, and hadn’t gotten buried in the collapse. He’d been knocked to the floor, but aside from that he was okay.  There was so much dust and dirt in the air that he had some difficulty breathing. He coughed vigorously, trying to get the tiny bits of debris out of his lungs.  He found his flashlight, which had slipped out of his hand when he fell, and switched it on. Thankfully, it still worked. When he could finally see again, his eyes widened. The tunnel behind him had completely collapsed, blocking it off and separating him from the rest of the group.

“The others… they made it out too, right?” he muttered aloud, unable to help but worry. “They’re not…” He gulped and took a quick look around. The tunnel he found himself in was long, too long for his light to shine down. He hoped the path led somewhere, or else he would be stuck. Looking back at the collapsed wall, it didn’t seem possible to tunnel through without causing the rest of the ceiling to crash down. Scourge grimaced as he shined his light around the cave, looking for a sign that anyone else made it through the cave in. “Hello?” he called out, his voice echoing feebly through the cavern until it quieted into nothing. The hedgehog felt his heart pounding in his chest. He didn’t like this. He felt trapped, enclosed, alone. There was no one else there, there was no way out, there was--

There was something moving underneath some of the debris.

Scourge skidded over to the rustling pile of rocks and began to toss aside one after another, eventually uncovering the small fox who was trapped underneath. Lil’ T luckily didn’t look too bad. He was alive and breathing, and while he had some scrapes and bruises, it didn’t look like he’d sustained any major injuries. The Moebian breathed a sigh of relief. “Kid, you alright?” he asked, shoving the remaining rocks aside.

“Scourge…?” he coughed, accidentally breathing in dust and dirt. “What happened?”

“The tunnel caved in,” the hedgehog said. “I think we got cut off from the others.”

“Are they all okay?”

“I don’t know.” Scourge sat down cross-legged next to Lil’ T and looked at the communicator on his wrist. The screen was cracked, and there was a huge dent in it. “It looks like I can’t call them to find out,” he said, furrowing his brow. “And I’m not about to spindash through those rocks, ‘cause that’ll just bring the rest of this joint down on top of us.”

“So what do we do?” the child asked, sitting up.

“I… I guess we start walking and hope this tunnel leads somewhere,” the hedgehog said  uncertainly, the feeling of being trapped beginning to set in. Before, even when they’d purposely blocked themselves in the cave, he knew they would be able to get back out again. But what if they were stuck down here? He  _ hated _ feeling trapped, it made him feel helpless, like he was back  _ there… _ “We gotta get outta here,” he said quietly, balling his hands into fists and wrapping his arms around his knees. “Like,  _ soon.  _ I do  _ not _ like being stuck in one place like this,”

Lil’ T blinked. He certainly wasn’t used to seeing Scourge act this way. He’d seen the green hedgehog upset before, but he seemed… weirdly anxious. “Are you alright? You look really freaked out,” he said nervously, watching as the Moebian’s hands started to shake.

“W-what? Nah, m’fine,” Scourge breathed, rubbing his hands up and down his arms. He slowly rose to his feet, moving in such a way that he avoid facing Lil’ T. He didn’t want to have any flashbacks or anything, not now. Not in front of the younger Tails. Not in front of  _ anyone. _ For a few brief moments, the newly formed wall of rock became metal bars, his leather jacket became an orange jumpsuit, the quiet sounds of settling stones became the chatter of the cellblock. Luckily, it was no more than that, but it was still enough to get him spooked. They could be trapped down here for good. Sonic and the others might never find them. Sonic and the others might be  _ dead. ‘Oh gods if they’re  _ dead _ because I lead them in here… if it’s my fault… oh Chaos please don’t let it be my fault, I really need them all to not be dead right now.’ _

“Scourge?”

“Yep! Uh, I’m fine,” he said. His voice was slightly shaky but he played it off like it was nothing. “Um, we should probably get going.  We were just at that big crossroads, so we might be able to get to the guys by exploring around a bit. Can you stand?” he asked, offering Tails his hand to help him get up. The child refused it. Instead, he insisted on getting up on his own. He used the wall to pull himself up to his feet. He quickly collapsed back down to the ground, clutching his left ankle.

“Ow ow ow ow ow ow!” he cried, curling in on himself instinctively.

“Hey, hey!” Scourge hushed in an attempt to be comforting, crouching down next to Lil’ T. “What is it, what’s hurtin’?”

“My ankle,” the fox said, clearly in pain.

“Here, lemme take a look at that,” he said as he reached for the ankle in question. The kit eyed him warily, glancing back to the pile of crumbled ceiling behind him.

“Sonic said…” he muttered quietly, “that I shouldn’t trust you. Or talk to you, or anything.” He looked conflicted about it, unsure of what he should do.

“Oh,” Scourge said, withdrawing. “Right. That whole thing. But wait, you’ve  _ been _ talkin’ to me!”

“That’s only ‘cause there’s no one else to talk to,” Lil’ T crossed his arms and looked away in an overdramatic huff.

The hedgehog sighed. “Of course that’s why,” he said dully. Great, so he was close to having a flashback/panic attack/whatever it was, and Lil’ T wanted nothing to do with him. This was going swimmingly. “Look, you know I ain’t gonna hurt you, right? We’re both stuck here, so we’re gonna hafta work together if we wanna get outta here. So do you think you can trust me for now? At least?” he asked hopefully. Even if it was just temporary, he found himself wanting Tails to trust him again.

The fox didn’t answer at first, taking a moment to think about the proposal. He looked at Scourge carefully, eyeing him up and down, before settling on his eyes. The hedgehog’s expression was calm and confident, yet something in his eyes seemed… afraid. It reminded Tails of the brave face Sonic wore in face of danger; always acting cool and collected even if he was scared. The kit pouted. “Okay,” he said, and he noticed Scourge visibly relax a bit in response. “But! No funny business, or else!”

“Aw, not even a little?” the hedgehog joked. “Bummer, there go my weekend plans.” Lil’ T tried not to smile, still not 100% on board with this situation, but Scourge’s joke  _ did _ cheer him up a little bit. “Oh well, a deal’s a deal. Now let’s check out your ankle, see what the damage is.”  The fox nodded, and Scourge took a look at his ankle. It didn’t look swollen, which was good. He knew from his own previous ankle injuries that it had to be wrapped up, but he was no doctor. There was only so much he was going to be able to do for the kid. Of course, he hadn’t had the foresight to pack any bandages in his bag. He would have to improvise. But what was he going to use?

Tails was starting to get a little antsy. Scourge supposed he should do something, rather than just sit there and look completely dumbfounded. He slipped the kid’s shoe off his foot, making sure to be as gentle as he could. ‘Gentle’ wasn’t exactly his thing, though, and the child moaned in discomfort. Once the shoe was off, Scourge pulled the sock back until the ankle was exposed. Okay, maybe it looked a  _ bit _ swollen. Lil’ T would want to avoid walking on it for a little while, that much was for sure. The hedgehog looked inside his backpack for anything he could use to wrap up the injured ankle. The only things inside were a sandwich, a water bottle, and some extra batteries for the flashlight. Nothing that could be tied around a foot.

“Hey, you have any bandages in your backpack?” the Moebian asked, and Tails wormed his backpack off of his shoulders.

“Um…” the child hummed, zipping the pack open and digging around inside. “I have band-aids. Will that help?”

“Not quite,” Scourge huffed. “I need something to wrap around your ankle, those won’t work.” He exhaled in frustration and ran a gloved hand through his choppy quills. Wait- gloves. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would have to do. He pulled them off of his hands, tying the fingers together. Then, he took the gloves and managed to wrap them around the fox’s foot. “There,” he said, tightening the knot so the gloves would stay secure. “How’s that, not too tight or nothin’?”

“It’s okay,” Tails said skeptically. He still didn’t trust Scourge entirely, and he certainly didn’t want to make it look like he was happy around him. The hedgehog nodded before slipping the sock and shoe back on over the makeshift bandages. Tails moved his foot around and tried putting some weight on top of it. “It still hurts,” he said with a frown.

“Of course it still hurts. What do you think, my gloves are magic?” Scourge said, getting to his feet. “The wrap is just to help it heal faster, if I did it right.”

“If?”

“Hey, I never claimed to be a doctor! Come on, we gotta get moving. We won’t find the others, or the seventh Chaos Emerald just sitting around here.”

“But I can’t walk,” Tails pouted, arms crossed.

Scourge placed his ungloved hands on his hips. “What do you want me to do? Carry you?”

Which is exactly what he ended up doing. He carried Lil’ T on his back, and the fox carried one of the backpacks on his. They’d decided to consolidate their supplies, stuffing everything in the one backpack to make things easier. They were making their way through the dark tunnels, aided only by a flashlight and Tails’ above-average night vision. They had no idea where they were going. It was times like these that Scourge really wished that he was better at sensing Emeralds. Or that he could get in touch with the others. Or that Lil’ T would stop glaring daggers at him.

“Honestly, are you going to do nothing but be a grump this whole time?” the green one asked, a hint of exasperation in his voice.

“’M thinking,” Tails mumbled, his tails twisting around in frustration.

“About what? The guys? They’re probably alright, you know. They’re tougher than I give them credit for, and dying in a place like this ain’t their style.”

Tails didn’t respond past a simple “Mmm,” going only as far as to acknowledge that he’d heard the hedgehog. Scourge  _ ugh’ _ d.

“Look, you gonna talk to me or what?” he asked, getting annoyed. “’Cause or else this is going to be one hell of a boring trip.”

Several beats passed without the fox saying anything. Scourge opened his mouth to talk again when he suddenly spoke up. “I wish Sonic was here,” he said softly, tightening his grip around Scourge’s shoulders.

“Yeah, well, believe it or not, I wish he was here too,” the Moebian said. “But he ain’t here right now. I am.”

“You’re not Sonic, though,” Tails protested.

“Technically, I am.”

“No. You’re not.”

“I was born with the same DNA as Sonic. My parents named me Sonic. Sure, I changed it, but... it’s still kinda technically my name.” Scourge shrugged. It felt kind of weird saying that his name was Sonic. It wasn’t something he had admitted very often.

Tails thought for a moment before saying, “I wish  _ my _ Sonic was here.”

Scourge couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Well, at least you’re honest, kid.”

“… So why’d you change your name?”

“Huh? I, uh, didn’t want to be just another Sonic clone. Before, everyone just called me Evil Sonic, or Anti-Sonic. I wasn’t me, I was just another him. So I made myself different.”

Just then, the walls started to shake again, the whole cave rumbling. Loose rocks and debris crashed down from the ceiling. Without hesitation, Scourged yanked Tails off his back, pulled him into his chest, and got down low, protecting the small fox from the falling boulders. Tails was probably shaking as much as the floor. He’d experienced quakes before, but he could always fly away from those. In the tunnel, there was nowhere to run or hide. You just had to sit there and hope there wasn’t a cave in. It was even worse than a thunderstorm in the fox’s eyes.

Thankfully, no huge rocks came down. Scourge still got nailed in the back by a few fist-sized stones, and his flashlight was smashed to bits by a similar rock, but aside from that, he and Tails were okay. The ground finally settled, and the shaking eventually stopped. Dust was still swirling around everywhere, but at least they were safe.

“Are you-“ Scourge coughed. “Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Lil’ T said timidly. “I think so.”

“Good,” the hedgehog said, tentatively getting up. The tunnel was completely pitch black without the flashlight, which lay in pieces on the ground. Scourge felt around and found his sunglasses, which had fallen off during the quake, and perched them back on his head. “Your eyes are better than mine in the dark. Can you see anything?” he asked.

“Yeah, the path keeps going down straight.” Tails got up on his one good leg and starting twisting his twin namesakes until he was up in the air. “Let’s keep going. Follow me!” He flew down the tunnel, checking to make sure the green one was following behind him as he went. Scourge sighed in relief as his footsteps echoed through the otherwise quiet cave. He needed a break from lugging Tails around.

For the past ten minutes or so, the natural rock of the tunnel had been fading away, turning to something more artificial. Still stone, but now the walls were made of stacked blocks, and the floors and ceiling were made of some sort of old brick. An occasional torch could be found hanging from the wall, providing the first light the two had seen since the flashlight broke. Scourge picked one up out of its sconce and carried it along, lighting the way.

“What is this place?” the green one wondered aloud, referring to the unexpected change in scenery.

“It looks like a pyramid, almost. Well, the inside of one, anyway,” Tails said, inspecting the walls. “Sonic did say that all of history was happening at once. We musta’ walked into a different time zone.”

“Time period, you mean,” Scourge nodded. He recalled the initial shock everyone experienced when they returned to Mobius. He ran his bare hand across the stone brick wall. He could feel all the dust and dirt, all the nooks and crannies- all the stuff he couldn’t normally feel with his gloves on. He knew that he was getting dirt and all sorts of crud under his fingernails, but he had more important things on his mind.

Like why Doctor Eggman’s face was spray-painted on all the walls.

“Don’t tell me the Doc is here,” Scourge said, furrowing his brow and taking a step back. Lil’ T gulped, looking back and forth down the hallway.

“I haven’t seen any badniks around…” he said quietly.

“Yeah, and I don’t hear any machines running,” said the hedgehog, his ears perked up. “Don’t let your guard down, though. Who knows what could be lurking around here…” He led his small charge further into the cave, hoping they’d find the last Chaos Emerald, the other members of their team, or both. Preferably both. Instead, all they found were dusty, rusted over machines and bits of smashed robots that were littering the various hallways and chambers they walked through. Tails flew low to the ground, inspecting the robot parts.

“Looks like Sonic came through here once,” he observed. “Pro’lly a few years ago, these ‘bots look pretty old.”

Scourge nodded, kicking the blasted-off arm of an E-100 unit out of his way. There was an outline of dirt and rust where it had been laying. “That sounds about right.” They continued walking and taking in the sights, rarely talking. There was just too much to talk about, too much in their minds to even know where to start. What was this place exactly? Would they ever find a way out? Were Sonic and the others okay? Where were the Time Eater and its minions? Where was the last Emerald? How much longer would Mobius be safe? What if No Zone or Moebius was next to be consumed, torn apart, and then stuck existing in a timeless void?

“Hey, Scourge?” Tails asked, breaking the silence. 

Scourge blinked, his train of thought derailed. “Whaddaya want?” he asked bluntly.

“How long’ve we been walking?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to tell, what with time not existing here anymore and all that.”

“Guess,” the fox said simply. The hedgehog huffed.

“I dunno, a few hours since we lost the others. Why, you gettin’ tired?”

“Um, no, I’m okay,” the child shook his head. “But…”

Scourge eyed him suspiciously. “But what? Spill it, shorty.”

“Why are you being so nice to me?” Tails blurted out. The green one’s eyes widened. Well, he certainly wasn’t expecting that.

“What?” he asked, thinking that he maybe heard the kid wrong.

“You carried me, an’ wrapped up my ankle, an’ you protected me when the quakes started up again. Why’re you bein’ so nice?”

Scourge shrugged one of his shoulders. “What, just ‘cause you don’t like me anymore, that means I can’t look out for ya? ‘Sides, Sonic’d kill me if I let you get hurt,” he explained.

“So, even after I stopped talkin’ to you… Y’know, after I found out what you did to your dad… You’re not mad at me or nothin’?” Tails asked shyly, looking down at his hands.

“Wha-- no, why would I be mad?” the hedgehog asked, legitimately a little surprised. “Kid, I wasn’t mad at you cause you weren’t talking to me. I was mad at  _ myself,  _ you kiddin’? Nah, I  _ get _ why you would hate my guts. Can’t be mad at you for that.”

Lil’ T’s expression lifted, turning into a smile that he was trying to hide. “Okay. Good,” he said simply. Scourge couldn’t help but smile a little bit too. Maybe things would get better from here on out. He held the torch out farther away from him, making his good mood harder to see.

“C’mon, let’s pick up the pace, slowpoke,” the hedgehog said, patting the child on the shoulder and watching him bob up and down. “I’d like to get out of these caves sometime before next year.”

“But you said that time-“

“Just come on!”

ooo

If time were moving, about an hour would have passed since the generic caves turned to pyramid insides. Scourge and Tails carried light conversation along the way, something Scourge was grateful for. At least the kid had started talking to him again. It helped to keep both their minds off the gloomy circumstances they were currently stuck in. The little fox had gotten tired of flying, and had gone back to sitting comfortably on Scourge’s back, wedged snugly between the hedgehog’s short quills. Lil’ T was talking extensively about his plans for a retractable plane runway when something rumbled. Only, it wasn’t the ground or the walls this time.

“Getting hungry, huh?” Scourge asked, turning his head towards the kid, an eyeridge cocked. The young Tails shook his head.

“Nuh-uh,” he protested. He hiccupped.

The hedgehog laughed. “Oh, your pants are so on fire, shorty.” He plucked Lil’ T off of his back and sat him down on the floor, against the wall. He then sat down next to him, crossing his legs. He yanked open his backpack, which Tails was carrying, and rummaged around in it, looking for the food he had packed. Tails licked his lips hungrily as the green one pulled a sandwich out of his bag. Scourge’s eyes widened a bit when he saw the fox’s hungry expression. He ripped the sandwich in half, handing one half to Tails and keeping the other half for himself. The kid inspected the sandwich for a few seconds before diving in, quickly wolfing down most of his half. Scourge hadn’t even taken a bite of his yet.

“Jeez, slow down there, Speed Racer,” he said, taking his own food away from his mouth. “You’re gonna choke yourself, you keep eating that fast.”

Lil’ T blinked up at him with wide eyes, his mouth still full. “Joo say somefin?” he mumbled, crumbs falling out of his mouth.

“I said calm down with the eating before you make yourself sick! You little pain in the-“

“Hey, you gonna eat that?” Tails asked, conveniently cutting off the rest of Scourge’s sentence. He had already polished off his half of the sandwich and was licking his fingers. The hedgehog sighed.

“Fine, you can have it. If!” he held the sandwich right out of the kid’s reach. “If you don’t inhale this one. Because if you puke on me, I am leaving you here.”

“Deal!” Tails said, snatching the sandwich and going in to take a massive bite. Then, remembering the deal he just made, stopped himself and took a smaller bit instead. Scourge humphed in satisfaction and leaned back against the cool wall. He looked at the hallway that was still ahead of them. It continued on for as far as he could see, and showed no sign of stopping anytime soon. He was starting to get stir crazy from being stuck in this place for so long. Yes, he was more accustomed to being stuck in one place than someone like Sonic, but it didn’t mean he enjoyed it. He wanted to run, blast through the pyramid caves like nobody’s business. But of course, he had to get stuck on babysitting duty.

He stood up restlessly and started stretching. He was getting antsy. He needed to move. He needed to do something.

"As soon as you're done with that sandwich," he said to Lil’ T, "we're gonna get moving again." 

The fox made a disappointed face. "Can't we rest longer?" he whined. "I'm getting tired."

Scourge was about to point how how _he_ had done all the walking and carrying, but it struck him that Tails was still just a kid. If time were working, it would probably be way past his bedtime by now. "Fine," he grunted. "We'll keep going until we find a good place to rest. How's that?"

Tails nodded. "Okay," he said simply. He polished off the rest of the sandwich and then got up on his good leg. Scourge picked up his backpack, and the child climbed back onto his back with a yawn. He made sure the fox was secure before taking off at a 70 mph jog. He was sick of walking.

Scenery blew past them in a blur, hieroglyphics on the walls speeding by. Soon the walls and ceiling themselves were gone, and the two were traveling on a suspended stone path with accents of red and blue and green. The walkway led into a seemingly bottomless chamber. Even with the massive torches on either side of the path lighting their way, they couldn't see any ceiling above or floor below, and they could just barely make out walls surrounding them. They could see in the distant darkness what looked to be massive, ancient ships, rocking back and forth like carnival rides.

The pathway itself twisted and turned and loop-de-looped, which Scourge sprinted through without a problem. The problem came when the path leveled out, and he found himself running towards a solid stone wall. There was no visible way around it, above it, below it, or even through it, not even if he let loose with a powerful spindash (which, because his quills were so short, wouldn't be able to cut through stone anyway). Standing in between he and Tails and the wall, however, was a large hourglass with a red and blue star on top. The hourglass was even taller than Scourge, by about half a foot or so. Even still, the hedgehog nearly missed it, preoccupied with the wall in front of him. He only paid attention to it once Tails pointed it out to him, and by then it was too late for him to stop or move out of the way. So, on a whim, he jumped, his strong legs sending him and the kid on his back up high into the air. In his haste, Scourge timed his jump wrong; instead of jumping _over_ the hourglass, he landed on top of it, his boots slamming into the star. To his surprise, he found himself launched into the air, the top of the hourglass acting like a spring of some sort. While he was in the air, the hourglass somehow flipped itself upside-down, and an ominous ticking began to ring out through the chamber. The hedgehog landed on his feet a yard or two past the hourglass, and had his attention once again redirected by the fox riding on his back- this time to a door that had opened up in the wall, but was quickly closing. Scourge dashed through it just in the nick of time, barely making it through with Tails’ tails still in tact.

The two emerged through the door into a large room, though this one wasn’t so large that they couldn’t see the other walls or ceiling. There were stone pillars everywhere, supporting the roof, and a huge, broken beetle-esque robot lay rusting in one corner. The room was hexagon-shaped, with  two of the parallel walls being longer than the other four. One of these walls had a raised platform in front of it, almost like a stage. At the center of the platform was a pit of bright green fire, which matched the green markings on the walls and above the doors. One of these doors was in the wall to which the “stage” was connected to. Above this door was a huge cobra statue, jutting out of the wall and filling the chamber with its somewhat creepy presence.

Scourge jumped up to the platform and set Tails down next to the green fire. “This seems like a good a place as any to camp for the night,” he muttered. Even his voice was tired at this point, there was no denying it. It had been a long day.

“Woah, it’s cool in here…” the fox said, looking around the chamber. His voice echoed slightly off the walls. He fingered the makeshift bandage around his bad ankle. “What about Sonic and the others, though?” he asked, looking up at Scourge hopefully. “What if they’re in trouble?”

“Yeesh kid, you were the one who wanted to take a nap,” the green one said, sitting down next to him. “Look, I’m sure they’re fine. They’re pretty tough. Who knows, maybe they’ll find us while we’re here.”

“But what if they don’t?”

“Then we’ll find ‘em and save ‘em, I dunno! I’ll try and fix this stupid communicator, maybe I can get in touch with the others. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” Scourge suggested, tapping the broken device around his wrist. “You need to rest your ankle some more, and it’s probably past your bedtime anyway.” Tails pouted.

“I’m good with machines and stuff, though! Maybe I could-“

“You sayin’ I can’t figure this out?” the hedgehog playfully snapped back. Tails’ pout showed no signs of going away, even after an intense bout of glaring from Scourge. He sighed. “Okay, okay, I’ll wake you up if I think you can lend a hand. Happy?”

Tails nodded, letting out a small yawn. He lied down on the stone ground, using the backpack as a pillow and his namesakes as a blanket. “... Hey, Scourge?” He asked, turning back to look at the hedgehog. The green one was caught mid-yawn himself, trying to compose himself.

“Aaah, hmm?” He replied airily. He was starting to really feel tired, his lack of sleep catching up to him big time.

“I was thinking, um… and I think…” Tails stammered, trying to think of how to say what was on his mind. “I think, maybe… you’re not so bad after all.”

Scourge’s ears perked up. Did he just hear him correctly? “W-what? Really?”

“Well… you’ve been really nice, and you’re worried about the others, and you seem really sorry about all the bad stuff you did…” Lil’ T rubbed his arms, which were covered in goosebumps. “And older-me and older-Sonic and Zonic all trust you, so… If you wanna be friends again…”

“I, uh,” the Moebian gasped, surprised to hear this coming from the child who until recently was terrified of him. “Uh, yeah! Yeah, let’s...let’s…”

“Be friends?” Lil’ T finished for him.

“Y-yeah,” Scourge nodded. The fox giggled.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just not used to people wanting to me my… friend.” He made a face and stuck out his tongue. “Yeah, that word tastes weird.” The child laughed at that, his shy smile growing wider. The hedgehog started to smile, too. “Thanks, kid. Now go to sleep, will ya?” Scourge said, rustling the fox’s bangs.

“Wait! Just… one more thing,”  the young fox looked up at him curiously. “What changed your mind? About being a bad guy, I mean? Why do you not wanna be like that anymore?” he asked, his voice growing quiet.

Scourge blinked, trying to think of an acceptable answer. What made him realize that the whole ‘evil’ thing wasn’t working out for him? “Well I mean, it was a number of things, I guess.  But the big one has to be Zone Jail,” he said with a shiver. “I hated everyone in there. They all beat up on me all the time, every day, just because I couldn’t defend myself. They were…” he searched for a word that wouldn’t be too inappropriate. “Jerks. Total jerks. And I don’t wanna be like them, I hate them! So… So… shit, I think I just realized that  _ as _ I was saying it.” His eyeridges lifted up, and he looked sideways at Tails. “I mean, I’ve been thinking about this stuff for days, y’know,  _ why _ exactly I’m doing this, but… damn. I think that specifically is definitely a big part of the reason why.”

“Really? You didn’t know that before?” Tails asked, a bit more confidently now.

“Nuh-uh. Sometimes it can take a while to realize stuff, even about yourself. Y’know?” the hedgehog said.  “Well, I think that’s enough Q&A for one day, huh? I’d say you know me now better than you know Sonic.”

The kit giggled and shook his head, but didn’t protest. Tails smiled warmly, shifting closer to the hedgehog. “M’kay. G’night, Scourge,” he said softly, closing his eyes.

“Night, kid,”  Scourge muttered, looking into the flame. The chamber was filled with an eerie quiet, the only sounds being breathing and the crackling of fire. _ ‘I can’t believe it. Tails, he… he’s really giving me another chance.’ _ He felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He’d been fretting about the kid for days now, worrying about what he thought of him. The hedgehog never really had anyone before who would stand up for him like Lil’ T did, so when he lost that… Now he couldn’t help but grin. He never thought he would would enjoy having… f...fr… allies. He still wasn’t entirely keen on using the f-word. But it felt kind of nice.

He looked down at the communicator around his wrist. Of course, getting along with Lil’ T again was all well and good, but he didn’t want the others to be dead, either. He said he'd try and fix the device, but it didn't even look like it  _ could _ be fixed. The screen was badly cracked for one thing, and he didn't have any tools to open the device with. It was probably a lost cause. Scourge tried again to turn the communicator on, but to no avail. It was well and truly busted. His stomach grumbled loudly. He found himself wishing that he'd packed more than one lousy sandwich, or had at least not let Tails eat the whole thing by himself. He was  _ starved.  _ He was pretty sure he wouldn't even turn down prison food, with how loudly his stomach was complaining. He had a sip of water from the bottle in his backpack, hoping that would at least quiet his stomach down. He was just going to have to go without food until they found some way to escape the expansive cave system.

He spent what would have been another hour more trying to pry the back of the communicator off. Maybe there was some sort of distress signal he could activate, that the others could track and use to find him and Lil’ T. It was no use. Even by using his razor-sharp teeth to attack the device's backing, it still held on. _'Well, I have to give the older Tails props here. This thing could withstand a freaking nuclear blast.'_

It was then that he noticed something twitching in the corner of his vision. He glanced down at the young fox at his side, shivering, twin tails wrapped tight around his small body. Scourge raised an eyeridge. They were sitting right next to a fire, how could he be cold? The hedgehog put a hand out towards the fire. The green flame was plenty hot, but nearly all its heat was contained. He pulled his hand away a bit, and felt hardly any warmth at all. _ 'Stupid magical fire, no wonder the kid's freezing,' _ he thought. Knowing he would probably hate himself for it later, he pulled off his leather jacket and draped it over the fox like a blanket. Without waking up, Tails immediately snatched it up and wormed his way inside it. While doing this, he also somehow squirmed up closer to Scourge, ending up with his head in the hedgehog’s lap. Scourge, luckily, was too tired to complain. He shivered a little, now feeling the full effects of the room’s chill. He sighed.

“Looks like I’m a softie now. Officially, this is the softest moment of my life. Taking care of a small child, who is now snuggled up in my lap,” he deadpanned.  _ ‘If someone had told me a year ago… hell, even a week or two ago, that all this was going to happen… no way in hell I’d believe it. But shit, here I am.’ _ The hedgehog yawned, his sunglasses falling a little bit in front of his eyes. He took them off and looked at them. One of the lenses was missing entirely, and the other one was cracked, a small portion of the red glass missing. The frames were dented and smashed up. Scourge frowned. He hadn’t realized how busted up his shades had become since the cave-in. Perfect, those had been his last pair, too. He tossed them aside, the glasses clattering against the hard floor, and laid down with a huff. Tails repositioned himself so that his head was laying on the green one’s stomach. His head was sort of an uncomfortable weight on Scourge’s midsection, restricting the hedgehog from moving around or rolling over. But to be fair, the kid’s head was keeping him warm. Scourge yawned again, sharp teeth bared. He felt exhausted. He’d done nothing but hike through caves and worry all day, and it had taken its toll. He definitely needed to get some sleep.

His whole body tensed up at the thought of what might happen when he closed his eyes. It was a very real possibility that he would have another vivid nightmare like the one he had the night before. Being terrified again like that… didn’t exactly appeal to him. Having another dream about Smalls, or his dad, or anything else for that matter… He didn’t want to think about it, let alone experience it. But he couldn’t just stay awake for hours, just laying there, could he? He was already incredibly tired, yawning every few minutes. His eyes were starting to hurt from being open so long, his body was tired of moving. He doubted his ability to function if he continued to stay awake. But he wouldn’t be able to deal with another nightmare, either. And with Lil’ T literally sleeping on top of him, he didn’t want to have a sudden freakout.

_ ‘So, basically picking the lesser of two evils here. I sleep enough to function, and I freak the fuck out. I stay awake, and I just… postpone the freakout. And possibly pass out later in the day.’  _ Scourge closed his eyes, his hand moving to the bangs on Tails’s head.  _ ‘I should sleep. I really should sleep, even if I just wake up in the middle of it. But I really, really don’t want to. I just want this nightmare bullshit to be over,’ _ he thought tiredly. He opened his eyes again, staring at the ceiling.  _ ‘I guess I should stay awake. It’s better if I keep watch, anyway. This way we don’t get murdered by monsters in our sleep.’ _ He shivered, the chill of the stone floor worming through his short fur. “G’night, kid,” the hedgehog said quietly. “It’s gonna be a long one.”


	29. The Reunion

The fact that time wasn’t moving on Mobius was  _ really _ throwing him off. As Scourge stared at the ceiling, determined to stay awake, he’d wished he had a clock to look at. Something to tell him how long he’d been laying there, and how much longer he had to go before Lil’ T woke up and they started moving again. But there was nothing. No clocks, no time, just his exhaustion and the child sleeping on his stomach.

Staying awake through the “night” wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it would be, to be honest. The green hedgehog felt so tired, that he’d actually wrapped back around into feeling generally awake and alert. Not energetic or anything, mind you, but he was confident he wouldn’t fall asleep anytime soon. No, the difficult part was dealing with his mind wandering. There wasn’t really much that he could think about that was pleasant. The rest of the team? Could be dead. What they would do next? Trudge through more boring caves and hope they find someone. Going home after this whole ordeal was over? He didn’t  _ have _ a home, and he didn’t even know if he could go free or if he’d be sent back to Zone Jail. His sentence was a long one, after all. Would saving the multiverse counteract his attempt to conquer it?

The only nice thing Scourge could think about at the moment was the small fox curled up on his midsection, breathing slowly as he slept. He was a good kid. Not annoying, not a huge pain in the butt, and just… really smart, and kind. Before the hedgehog had been to Zone Jail, his old crew only stuck with him and respected him because he was strong, because they feared him. But Tails respected him for  _ him,  _ liked him for  _ him. _ Scourge didn’t have to be intimidating around him, he could just be… himself? He wasn’t quite sure what his true self was like. He’d been acting like a tough asshole to scare people for as long as he could remember. Not that he wasn’t tough or an asshole, but he definitely tried to exaggerate it as much as possible. Getting to pull back on the whole tough-guy shtick every so often was refreshing, he was beginning to realize.

He stared up at the stone ceiling, the light from the green flames dancing on its surface. The hedgehog breathed softly, careful not to upset the child whose head was on his stomach. He listened hard for any sort of sound.  _ ‘I wonder how the others are holding up...’ _ he thought. He absentmindedly ran his bare fingers through the short fur on Tails’ head. He had been telling the kit that the others were definitely okay, without a doubt, and that they would all meet up again in no time. He had been telling himself that too, he supposed. But after a while of staring up at the ceiling and nothing happening, his mind started wandering into ‘what-if’ territory. What if he and Lil’ T were the only ones who made it out of that cave-in alive? What were they supposed to do if they were the only survivors? They had no more food, not a whole lot of water. The other Chaos Emeralds would be totally buried. They wouldn’t be able to beat the Time Eater, not in a million years, and they had no way to escape to another zone. It would just be the two of them, the only ones left… While Lil’ T was a fine companion, losing everyone else didn’t sit well with him.

Scourge’s ears suddenly perked up. He thought he had heard something… Was it just the crackling of the fire? ... No, it wasn’t that close. Something… shuffled. The hedgehog moved his head in an attempt to look around, but he thought he heard the sound come from behind him. He couldn’t see without getting up.

_ Crunch.  _ That was definitely NOT the fire making that noise. Scourge nudged Tails awake and quickly sat up. He swung his head around to get a look at whatever was making that noise. It was a time monster; not a huge one, but still big enough to be a threat to a couple of sleepy travelers. It had stepped on Scourge’s broken sunglasses, completely shattering them, and it didn’t appear to be too happy. It appeared to be holding something, but whatever it was, it didn’t look like a weapon, so Scourge didn’t care.

Lil’ T rolled to the floor as Scourge leapt to his feet. “Wha’s goin’ on?” the fox asked, still half-asleep.

“Just stay behind me,” Scourge said quietly. The beast at the other end of the room snarled, registering the green one as a threat. He smirked. “It’s about time one a’ you guys showed up! I’ve been itchin’ for a fight.” He stretched his legs as the monster began to run towards him and Lil’ T. When it was about five feet away and Lil’ T had covered his eyes, Scourge rushed up and side-kicked it straight in the gut. The monster flew backwards from the force of the supersonic kick, and landed on its feet in the middle of the room. Before it got the chance to charge again, the hedgehog jumped off of the raised stage-like area they had been resting on and homing attacked the creature. While his quills weren’t sharp enough to cut through anything, his velocity alone was enough to cause damage.

Unfortunately, this monster, empowered by the broken flow of time, was more resilient than the creatures Scourge had fought in the past. The homing attack, while it did hurt, was not enough to stop the monster. It raised one of its thick hands and swatted Scourge away, sending the Moebian crashing to the floor. The hedgehog got to his feet and quickly backed up so he would have room to get a running start at an attack. He was stopped short, however, when after a few steps he backed up into the corner of the room. He cursed under his breath as the monster came closer, leaving him effectively surrounded. His head swam, protesting all the sudden movement. His vision started to turn dark at the edges, and the monster started to look like Smalls. He... He couldn’t do this. He was frozen, breathing hard… Smalls was getting closer, closing in… He could hear Tails yelling something, but he couldn’t make it out… His heart was beating too loudly…

Suddenly, in a flash of blue, the monster was gone. It had been launched across the room with a surprising amount of force, and in its place was a small hedgehog who was gone again in an instant. Now he was over by the fallen creature, finishing the job. Scourge blinked. It took him a few seconds to process what just happened. He took a shaky breath. What had just happened to  _ him? _ Why did he freeze up like that? Just what he needed, more hallucinations.

The lone time monster, now defeated, was lying crumpled in a pile at the opposite end of the chamber. “That’s what you get for taking my stuff!” the young Sonic shouted at it, yanking away whatever it had been holding in its claws. It was his backpack; he opened it and inspected its contents, looking relieved. He slung the backpack over his shoulder and walked calmly over to the green one. “Hey, Green Bean! You made it!” he grinned. “I was starting to wonder if we’d ever run into anyone else.”

“Y-yeah, me too,” Scourge said, moving to shove his hands in his pockets before realising that Lil’ T still had his coat. He suddenly remembered he didn’t have his gloves, jacket or sunglasses on. He felt practically naked. “... Wait,  _ we?” _ He asked, finally focusing on what Sonic had said.

“Yeah, Zonic and Tails, the older one. I ran ahead, they should be catching up soon-”

“Sonic?” Lil’ T spoke up. He had been hiding behind the giant pit of green fire, and had just poked his head out.

Sonic turned his head when he heard his name called. “Tails!!” he gasped, racing over to his brother. He climbed up on the raised platform and scooped the young fox up in an intense hug. “Oh my gods, you’re alive!! I was so worried about you, you have no idea!”

Tails giggled. “I missed you too, Sonic,” he smiled, returning the hug. When they were through, Sonic held him out at arms length.

“Are you okay? Nothing broken, no bleeding? Severe head trauma?” he asked, looking the kit over.

Lil’ T rolled his eyes. “I’m  _ fine _ ,” he said. “I hurt my ankle in the cave in, but-”

He stopped mid-sentence as Sonic immediately put him gently on the floor and stooped down to look at his ankle. The hedgehog paused when he saw the pair of gloves that were sloppily, but carefully tied around the swollen joint. “... Can you put weight on it? How does it feel?”

“Um, I can, but it really hurts when I do. If it doesn’t move around or bump into anythin’, it feels fine,” the fox shrugged. Sonic raised an eyeridge.

“Are you sure? This looks pretty bad. We might have to amputate. I don’t know if you can ever walk again, pal,” Sonic said, feigning a look of pure terror. Tails looked genuinely afraid for a second before he realized what his bro was up to.

“Oh, no! Sonic, I think I feel my foot falling off right now!” he gasped, trying not to laugh.

“Right now?! We gotta get you to the hospital, ASAP!!” the blue one lifted the child up and held him over one shoulder in a fireman’s lift before he started running around the room, making a siren noise and dramatic skid mark sounds when he turned. Tails was laughing and whooping excitedly, occasionally yelling something about his foot being ready to fall off. 

Scourge looked on from the corner, leaning against the wall.  _ ‘So, that’s what Sonic and Tails were really like when they were kids...’   _ It was weird, seeing them have fun like that, when they had just defeated a monster and the younger Tails was injured.  _ ‘No wonder the kid was whining the whole time about wanting Sonic back. They actually get along.’ _

Zonic and the older Tails entered the chamber now, finally having caught up with Sonic. They both appeared tense and frustrated, but their faces instantly lit up when they saw that Lil’ T and Scourge were alive.

“Well, I guess he found his backpack,” Zonic said with satisfaction, reholstering his pistol at his hip.

“Hey, wouldja look what the cat dragged in,” the Moebian said, approaching the newcomers. “Looks like you guys made it after all.”

Tails smiled. “Yeah, and you and little-me made it too, thank goodness. We were all pretty worried. Are you guys okay?”

Scourge shrugged. “We’ve been better, but we’re fine. What about you guys?”

“Well, y’see…” Zonic said hesitantly, showing off his heavily scarred leg. The one leg of his jeans had been ripped off, and his blue fur was matted with blood. There were heavy scars going down his thigh, and they looked positively nasty.

“Aw, jeez! What the hell?” The green hedgehog exclaimed, making a somewhat disgusted face. “That wasn’t there before, was it?”

The Zone Cop shook his head. “I got sliced up in the cave in. But apparently I’m a healer? I dunno, I just tried to heal it with a Chaos Emerald, not really expecting anything, and then... “ He motioned at the scar tissue, still unsure of what to make of it. “It still hurts, but at least I’m not bleeding out anymore.”

“Chaos… Yeah, that’s… that is definitely better than bleeding out,” Scourge cringed, scratching the back of his head. “Wait, so you can heal? Since when?”

“I don’t know! Sonic can’t even heal, I have no idea why I can. I’m not complaining or anything, but it’s definitely weird.”

“Yeah, but we can always wonder about the ‘why’ later. We’ve got bigger fish to fry right now,” the green hedgehog said, crossing his arms. “We’re one hog short.”

Tails frowned, looking around as the young time traveling duo walked over to them. “Yeah, Sonic wasn’t with you guys, was he? I hope he’s okay…”

Zonic gulped. “You don’t think he…”

“No. No way,” the younger Sonic shook his head resolutely. “Older-me’s not dead. No way some rocks would take me out, not when we’re so close to winning this whole thing.”

Lil’ T was still sitting on his shoulders, resting his head on top of his brother’s. He was practically swimming in Scourge’s jacket, which was way too big for him. “He’s all alone, though! We gotta find him. If our paths came together like this, maybe we can get to wherever big Sonic is!”

Scourge nodded, looking around at the room’s exits. “Aight. We came in through there,” he said, pointing to the door on the left, “and you guys came through there,” he pointed to the right. “That just leaves goin’ right down the middle.” He finally pointed to the door up on the raised half of the room, directly under the cobra statue.

“So what’re we waitin’ for?!” Lil’ T exclaimed, sitting up straight. “Let’s go find ‘im!” He wiggled his way out of the leather jacket before tossing it back to Scourge.

“Alright, alright,” Sonic relented, starting to step away from the group and towards the stage-like area.

“Zonic,” Tails asked the teenaged hedgehog leaning on him for support, “how’s your leg? Can you keep going?”

The Zone Cop nodded slowly. “Yeah. Just not too fast, and I’ll be fine. Let’s go.”

The reunited group of five started heading down the last remaining tunnel.  The corridor leading out of the Snake Chamber was long, dark, and winding, and got progressively colder with each step. It felt as if they were heading deeper and deeper underground, and they could only hope that the path would begin to slope upwards sometime soon if they wanted any hope of seeing the light of day again. Around each corner, hopes rose and fell, as the gang was always wishing to see the missing blue speedster right around the bend. No hedgehog came to them, so they continued on, until the neatly carved and stacked stone blocks of the walls and floor faded away into large, rough, uncut stones, and finally a solid cave wall again. As they walked, the group naturally fanned out. Scourge took up the front, being one of the most able to defend against attacks should another monster appear. The younger incarnations of Sonic and Tails followed up the back end, protecting the group from behind while also catching up with each other about what had occurred during the time they had been separated. Zonic took turns leaning on different people, trying to keep weight off his bad leg. That left Tails to walk around, checking on the front and back ends of the line to make sure everyone was doing okay.

The fox walked up to Scourge, who was starting to walk more sluggishly as they went along. “So, how much ‘time’ passed for you and Lil’ T?” He asked, making the hedgehog jump a little in surprise. “Um, just curious. Since it was only a couple hours for us.”

“Uh…” Scourge said, rubbing his eyes. “Long enough that we walked for a long time, the kid got a full night’s worth of sleep after.”

“And I take it you didn’t,” Tails huffed. “Another nightmare?”

“No. Didn’t chance it.”

“Wait, so… You’ve been up all night?!”

Scourge nodded, furrowing his brow. “Yeah, not so loud. I’m only half-functioning right now.”

The fox tisked. “Scourge, that was stupid. Like,  _ really  _ stupid. I know your nightmares have been bad, but we need everyone at their best right now. It’s bad enough as it is that Zonic and Lil’ T got hurt!”

“You think I don’t know that?” The Moebian snapped. He sighed tiredly. “Sorry. But it was either I exhaust myself, or I get scared so bad I can’t function  _ at all. _ And with the past-you there… Trust me, I would’ve loved to get some sleep, but I didn’t want to risk it.”

“Oh,” Tails said quietly, feeling bad. Scourge looked horrible. Bags under his eyes, ears and quills drooping, struggling to hold himself upright. “Are… Are they really that bad?”

The hedgehog nodded wordlessly. He glanced behind him to make sure the others were out of earshot. “You didn’t tell anyone about this, right?”

“I haven’t told anyone. But you should!” The two-tail whispered harshly. “If it’s bad enough that you’re staying up all night to avoid these nightmares, I really think the others should know about them!”

“What, so the guys can make fun of what a huge wimp I am? Wittle baby Scourge, scared shitless over some bad dreams? Yeah, that’s just what I need, more torment,” Scourge said bitterly, turning his head away from the fox and scowling.

“Have I made fun of you?” Tails crossed his arms and raised an eyeridge.

“Well, no, but…”

“Then what makes you think the others would?”

“Hey, Green?” Came a voice from close behind them. The hedgehog and fox jumped in surprise, quickly turning to see the younger Sonic behind them, sans Lil’ T. “Can I… talk to you for a sec?”

Scourge and Tails gave each other a glance, trying to quickly gauge the situation. It didn’t seem like Sonic had heard much of their conversation, and if he did hear, he didn’t look like he understood what they were discussing. Scourge shrugged. Tails nodded. “I’ll go check on Zonic, then,” the two-tail said, waving before he headed away towards the back of the pack. The oldest and youngest hedgehogs were left alone in the front of the line, and things immediately felt awkward. As the group been walking and talking, the narrow cave corridor they’d been traversing through had opened up into a much larger chamber. This open area had a more gravelly floor, surrounding a sort of underground lake. It also meant that their voices were starting to echo, so all private conversation had to be had at a lower volume.

Scourge finally raised an eyeridge at the smaller blue hog. “What do you want?” he asked sourly.

“I… I wanted to say thanks,” the younger hero said. Scourge’s other eyeridge raised to match the first one, and the pre-teen continued. “Y’know, for lookin’ after Tails. I was so worried about him, I…” Sonic licked his lips and glanced away from the older hedgehog. “Look, I’ve been thinking. Maybe you’re not  _ all _ bad. I haven’t been giving you much of a chance, but Tails really likes you. And he’s been real stubborn about it, he’s not giving up on you. So I’m thinking that maybe I should trust him on this one.”

“Whoa, what? Really?” the Moebian said, furrowing his brow and smirking a little bit.

Sonic nodded. “Yeah. But if I suspect even the  _ tiniest _ bit of  _ anything _ fishy going on with you, they’ll have to surgically remove my foot from your ass,” he said, jamming a finger into Scourge’s chest.

“Hah!” the green one laughed, showing off his razor sharp teeth. “Alright man, I’ll hold you to that. I slip up, you get to kick my ass, free of charge.”

The time traveler started to smile. “Oh, you handing out coupons for that? Buy one ass-kicking, get one free?”

“Uuugh! Dude, I  _ should’ve  _ done that! Everyone in Zone Jail loved beatin’ the living daylights outta me, I should’a made them pay me for it. As it was, some of them would schedule beatings with me in advance.” Scourge chuckled, but it felt hollow. He’d meant it jokingly, but Zone Jail still wasn’t the easiest thing for him to think about.

“Oh jeez, seriously? That’s harsh.”

“Yeah, you’re tellin’ me. It wasn’t pretty. I do NOT wanna go back to that place…”

“Well, if it’s any consolation,” Sonic sighed, “I’m rootin’ for ya’, Green. For Tails’s sake.”

“Hey, it’s better than nothin’,” the Moebian scoffed, though having the cynical hedgehog’s vote of confidence did make him feel a bit better. “Thanks, Blue. And, uh, speaking of ass-kickings, what was the Time Eater like when you fought it before?”

He thought about it for a moment or two before shrugging one shoulder. “Honestly? Kind of easy. He launched some slow-moving projectiles at us, and he was pretty weaponized by the two Robotniks, so he had some pretty glaring weakspots. Older-me and I just slammed into a big glowing orb on its chest a few times, and it went down. But… I have a strong feeling things are gonna be different this time. It won’t--”

“Hey, guys!!” Zonic suddenly called out from the back of the pack. “Get over here!”

“Hold that thought,” Sonic said to the green hedgehog. The two turned and started to head back, joined halfway by Lil’ T. Zonic pointed to a dark shape on the shore, where from the looks of it, something had washed up. “Zonic,” Sonic said when they all regrouped, “what is it?” His eyes followed the Zone Cop’s outstretched finger, his jawdropping when he realized what he was looking at. Sonic bent down low close to the figure. “It’s… It’s me.”

ooo

Everything was dark. He couldn’t feel, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear. He could taste, though. And all he tasted was salt water.

He heard something faint. It sounded far away, muffled even. Like he was listening to something from behind a pane of glass. The sound began to unfog. He could hear more clearly. Voices. Definitely voices. But whose? It sounded so familiar…

_ ‘It’s me,’ _ he realized.  _ ‘Little me. And… Tails? What happened…? Am I dead? Somehow I thought being dead would hurt less.’ _

He coughed, expelling the water that filled his lungs. As soon as he could, he took a deep breath. Then sputtered out more water. More air in, more water out. Repeat.

“Sonic! He’s alive!” Lil’ T said, his voice ringing through the waterlogged hedgehog’s ears. Sonic flattened his ears to his skull.  _ ‘I’m alive…? Huh, could have sworn I’d drowned…’ _ He slowly opened his eyes, being met with only more darkness at first. He was soon able to make out the light of torches and flashlights, and from there, faces were illuminated. His younger self. The Tailses. Scourge. Zonic. They were all there.

“... Guys?” Sonic said softly, a small smile worming onto his face. “You’re all… alive?”

Everyone was on top of him at once. They pulled him out of the water, propped him up so he was sitting upright, made sure he wasn’t seriously injured. They all chattered happily and with relief at getting their final teammate back.

“What happened?” his past-self asked. “How the heck did you end up in the water like that?”

“Wound up in HydroCity after we got split up,” the older coughed. “Pre-flood HydroCity. Didn’t stay that way for long though, and I guess I got knocked out when the water hit.”

“Sonic,” Tails said, sitting down next to him. “Are you okay? Your scar…”

“Yeah, what the hell happened?” Scourge sat down across from him. The rest of the gang followed suit until they were all sitting in a circle.

“I…” Sonic started, and then began to cough. The sudden jerks sent pain flaring through his body, and the cave rumbled slightly. Everyone flinched instinctively and huddled a little closer together. Once the rumbling and Sonic’s coughing stopped, everyone turned their heads to look at him. “... I’m not okay,” he sighed, bringing his knees up to his chest. “I have too much negative energy pent up inside of me. I can’t control it. All these earthquakes… They’re all my fault.”

“But… how is that even possible?” his younger self asked, his voice breaking a little bit.

“I don’t know,” the charred black hedgehog shuddered. He placed a dark hand over his chest. “It’s got something to do with my emotions. I’m having a harder time keeping them in check, and when they get out of control…”

“You make the  _ ground shake?” _ Lil’ T asked incredulously.

“Or  _ worse _ . Waves of dark energy can burst out of me if it gets too bad… I’m a wreck, huh?” he laughed lamely.

“Heck, I’m just glad you made it out of there alive,” Tails said.

“Yeah…” Sonic looked down at his feet.  _ ‘All that water… I was drowning, I almost  _ died _...’  _ He felt his throat began to close up, and the air around him began to thrum with energy.  _ ‘No. Stop. Control. Breathe.’ _ He needed to calm down, or he risked literally exploding.

“Um… Sonic? You good?” Tails asked as his big bro breathed steadily in and out.

“Yeah…” he sighed, clearing his mind. “Yeah, I’ll be good. What about you guys, how are you all holding up?”

Scourge and Tails shared a knowing glance, but the hedgehog remained tight-lipped and quickly broke eye contact. Lil’ T quickly raised his hand, smiling wide. “I hurt my ankle!” He exclaimed, as if it were something to be proud of. “See? Scourge had to wrap it up for me and everything!”

Sonic smiled and nodded, even though he couldn’t see the makeshift bandages at all. All of his friends were just dark silhouettes against a slightly-less-dark background. He could barely tell a few of them apart, let alone see details like that. Some features in their faces were highlighted in a light purple, but that didn’t seem to extend down to their ankles.

“My leg got pretty banged up, too,” Zonic said, running a hand against his new rough scarring. “Had some deep gashes going down the side. But I… healed it. With the Chaos Emeralds.”

“Woah, really?” The darkened hedgehog gasped, while silently trying to figure out if it was Zonic or his younger self who just spoke.  _ ‘Uh, uh, uh, crap, similar size, similar voice, both of them have been getting better with the Emeralds,’  _ he thought frantically as he kept up his cool facade. “Congrats, dude! That’s not easy to do, that’s pretty awesome.”

The Zone Cop smiled, feeling proud. “Thanks! Yeah, the scarring is pretty ugly, but it’s better than a ruined leg.”

“You can say that again,” Sonic chuckled.  _ ‘Scarring. If Lil’ S got scars on his leg, I would have them now. Right? I mean, my whole body is one big scar, so it’s hard to tell, and timelines haven’t been matching up lately-- I think it’s Zonic? I’m gonna go with Zonic. Chaos this sucks.’ _

“Don’t you think it’s weird, though? You don’t have healing powers, right? So how come I do?”

_ ‘Crap, maybe it  _ is _ younger-me? So far he’s only learned abilities that I already have, so it might be… Man, why did there have to be four Sonics and two Tailses on this stupid adventure?!’ _

“Sonic,” Tails said quietly, nudging the charred hedgehog in the arm. “You look a little weirded out, everything okay?”

Sonic balled his fists in his lap as his body went rigid. He knew it wasn’t his fault that he couldn’t tell the difference, but it still  _ felt _ like it was. This transformation was ruining  _ everything. _ “I… can’t exactly see so well, you guys,” he said, looking down at the ground, sounding disappointed in himself. “Mainly just… basic silhouettes. So I... “ He took a deep breath. He could feel everyone looking at him. He didn’t have the heart to look back. He laughed, the sound coming out a little bit sad. “I can’t tell if that was Zonic or Lil’ Me, who healed their leg. You both look and sound pretty similar, so… Sorry…”

“W-what?” Zonic gasped. They’d all figured that Sonic’s vision would be limited from his scarred over eyes, but for it to be that bad… “No, it’s fine, Prime! Don’t sweat it,” the cop said with a smile.

“Ooh, okay, so you  _ are _ Z,” Sonic nodded in response to hearing his nickname. “See, I thought so, but I just…” He blew air through his lips in frustration. “I can barely see, barely move, and barely control myself. I can’t use the Emeralds, mine burned me when I tried. I can’t do much more than crawl at the Time Eater like this. I’m just a liability at this point, I’m useless.” 

Everyone stared at him wide-eyed, unable to believe that those words had just come out of his mouth. Hearing Sonic of all people suddenly doubt himself so severely… it was just so unlike him. The whole process of his scar growing and eventually taking over his body had taken a huge toll. His younger self stood up and gave him a stern glance. “Look. I don’t know what’s going through your head right now, but you are  _ not _ useless. We’re  _ Sonic the Hedgehog, _ for Chaos’ sake!! Don’t just… um, what are those?” he said in a more hushed tone, his speech cut short. His eyes were transfixed on the small droplets of black energy that were dripping up and away from the older Sonic.

The elder hedgehog, frantically realizing this, rubbed his bare hands over his arms, quickly trying to cover them up. He didn’t need to freak out his friends any more that he already had. His alarm, however, only made the droplets grow bigger. "Man, not now," he muttered under his breath.

" _ Sonic. _ Let me see." The short hedgehog walked across their circle until he was standing over his older-self.

"See what? I'm just cold, dude,” the darker of the two said simply, fake shivering in a poor attempt to normalize the situation. “You guys pulled me out of the freaking ocean, what do you expect?"

"Somehow I don't believe you," the younger said. "Are you  _ sure _ you're okay?"

The Tailses leaned in to get a better look at the dripping energy, too, concerned looks gracing their faces. “Sonic, what is this?” the older one asked, starting to really fear for his older brother’s wellbeing. “Tell us what’s going on!”

_ “Just leave me alone!!”  _ Sonic shouted, opening his eyes wide as a wave of energy blasted out all around him. The burst of black and purple shot towards the others, forcefully shoving them back and pushing them to the ground. The earth underneath them rumbled, small stones fell from the roof of the cave, and a mixture of dust and energy particles swirled around them before quickly dissipating. The air was still tense with energy, and Sonic’s hands were shaking. He closed his eyes, unwilling to look at his friends through the clearing smoke.  _ ‘Oh no, what did I just do? They were just trying to help me, and… what did I do to them? What happened?’ _ He couldn’t bear to look and find out. If he opened his eyes and none of them were moving…

He heard sounds of light groaning and scuffling as his friends pushed themselves to their knees, so he tentatively opened his eyes. “G-guys?” Sonic asked nervously, looking down at the rest of the group. They were certainly moving, but something was wrong. They were moving sluggishly, almost like they were in slow motion. “Oh no,” the hedgehog gasped, realization dawning on his face. He bent down next to Tails, who was climbing to his feet, and waved his hand in front of the fox’s face. It took a few seconds for Tails’s eyes to move to where Sonic’s hands were, and they moved at a snail’s pace. “Shit,” Sonic breathed, standing up and taking several steps back away from everyone. “How did I… I didn’t mean to… Shit!” He grasped his head in his hands as he started to pace back and forth. He’d slowed them all down.  _ He’d slowed them all down.  _ That was a straight-up time monster power, and he just did it.

It took a minute, but most of his friends were now on their feet and looking close to his general direction. Their mouths were moving, so it looked like they were saying something, but Sonic couldn’t make it out. It was too slow to understand. He could feel the black energy dripping off of his body as he started to get more and more freaked out. Watching them all move so slowly felt wrong, it didn’t look real. His younger self, the Tailses, Zonic and Scourge… He must be moving so fast from their point of view. Were they freaking out, too? He could barely tell.

Sonic looked down at his scarred hands. “Okay, I… I did this. I have to be able to  _ un _ do it. Just gotta…” He tried to focus some energy in his hands, but it didn’t seem to be working. He wasn’t sure if paradox energy and Chaos energy could be controlled in the same way, but it was looking like that wasn’t the case. He tried feeling the energy. He tried thinking about the energy. He tried verbally commanding the energy, which turned into just yelling at the energy. He tried everything he could think of until he was sitting on the ground, curled up in frustration, and Tails had inched his way over to him.

The hedgehog sighed as his best friend slowly sat down next to him. Everyone else was gathered around too, all looking either concerned or confused. The eldest fox was trying to tell him something, but again, he couldn’t hear it clearly. Sonic frowned. “Sorry, pal,” he said, having a strong feeling that Tails couldn’t make him out either. “I didn’t mean to set you all on slow-mo, but I guess that’s just what happens when you wind up getting infected with weird time powers that you have no idea how to control. Man, this is bad…” He hung his head and looked down at the gravelly surface they sat on, trying to avoid looking at anyone else. 

_ ‘Stupid time monster, stabbing me full of stupid time powers that I don’t know how to stupid use. Stupid,’  _ he thought as he stood up and began to pace around again.  _ ‘Why couldn’t this be more like Chaos energy? I know how that stuff works. I’m used to using it, and Knuckles gave me the whole crash course on Chaos theory and all that junk. Willpower, determination, that stuff I’ve got plenty of. But whatever this paradox energy runs off of… My emotions apparently… I don’t know how that works, or how to harness this energy without getting pissed off or freaking out or something.’ _ This train of thought continued for several minutes, interrupted occasionally by pausing to check on his friends, observing their abnormally slow movements.

The hedgehog was growing frustrated and impatient. He’d finally just gotten his friends back, found them all safe and sound, and then this had to go and happen! He’d thought they could all be dead, and now they were all right next to him and he could barely interact with them. All they had wanted to do was help, and he blasted them for it. He didn’t like these new powers, not in the slightest. This wasn’t the first time he’d had dark powers given to him by an enemy-- that honor went to the whole Werehog thing, if he remembered correctly-- but this definitely felt darker, colder, less natural. He hated it, he hated the Time Eater, he hated this whole situation--!

Suddenly everyone around him was zooming. They’d all gone from zero to a hundred in a split second, and Sonic’s head swam. His teammates became colorful blurs, and before he had a moment to process what just happened, they were all teleporting around at random. Stopping and starting, freezing in new places and in new positions for varying lengths of time. And then they went back to being slow. Then fast. Then faster. Then frozen. The charrred black hedgehog was frozen in place, trying to take in what he was witnessing. It looked like he was playing a movie in reverse and fast forward at the same time.

“Wh-what the hell? Am I doing this? I-I barely feel like I’m doing anything!” Sonic stammered, looking frantically between his team and his hands. If the energy rapidly dripping off of him and his glowing purple hands were any indication, he was indeed the one doing this. He closed his fists, trying to stop the glowing. “Stop, stop, this needs to stop,” he whispered, trying to get a hold of himself. Nothing changed. “No, I need to calm down. That should stop this, right? So just… Just be calm… Happy thoughts, man, happy thoughts…” He tried to take deep breaths, but it was hard to relax when your friends were spazzing through time just a few feet away from you. He couldn’t calm down, he was freaking out. He wanted this to end, he wanted his friends back. He wanted this to  _ stop. _

ooo

“What’s happening to him?” The younger Sonic asked fearfully. The five other Mobians stared at the scarred, older version of the hedgehog, who was now rapidly switching between being fast and slow, teleporting around and freezing in place.

“You mean, what’s happening to  _ us,”  _ Zonic corrected him, looking instead at the waves from the salty lake rolling up on the gravel shore. The water was just as erratic as Sonic was, meaning that their group was the one out of sync with the world around them.

Tails tried to get close to Sonic, but that was proving difficult with his random movement. Whenever the hedgehog slowed down or froze, though, it was easy to tell his expression. “He’s freaking out. Bad,” the fox said, worried. “And remember what he said about these new powers of his supposedly being controlled by his emotions?”

“His emotions that he can barely control nowadays?” Scourge groaned. “Yeah, I remember. How the hell do we get him to calm down?”

“I dunno, what do we do?” Lil’ T asked, hiding behind the younger Sonic and holding onto the hedgehog’s hand.

Just as the older fox was about to respond, Sonic started to sync back up with them. He was still sort of jittery, jumping around a bit, almost like a lagging video game. But he wasn’t super fast, or painfully slow. He was sitting in place, unmoving, head in his hands, breathing hard as drops of the black paradox energy practically poured off of him. “Sonic!” Tails gasped, moving over and kneeling in front of him without even thinking. He grabbed the hedgehog by the shoulders, holding him tight and in place. Sonic’s movements were still jittery, but he sat still. He shakily lifted his head up to look Tails in the eyes. He wasn’t crying, but his eyes were wild and his voice cracked as he spoke.

“T-Tai-ls?” He shuddered, scared out of his wits. His voice sounded distorted, but at least the fox could make out what he said.

“Just calm down, bro, everything’s gonna be fine. Deep breaths, okay?”

Whether or not Sonic’s breaths were truly deep or not was hard to tell, but he seemed to jitter a little bit less with every one he took.

Zonic smiled, noticing the erratic pattern of the shoreline begin to stabilize. “I think it’s working,” he breathed with relief. He stepped tentatively towards Sonic and kneeled down next to Tails. “You can do it Prime, I know you can. Just a little bit more.”

“Zonic? I c-an hea-ear y-you guys again-n,” Sonic said, seeming like he was calming down. Everything was syncing back up again, finally.

Scourge groaned. “‘Bout time!” He huffed, only to receive a harsh nudge from Lil’ T.

“Don’t discourage him!”

“I wasn’t! I was just sayin’,” the green hedgehog shrugged.

Sonic’s ears perked up as he was able to pick up more and more of their words. “Guys… You’re back, I’m so sor-orry I didn’t--”

Tails smiled. “It’s okay, bro. We know. Just breathe for a minute, okay? Everything’s sorting itself out.” He kept his hands firm on Sonic’s shoulders, anchoring him. The hedgehog bowed his head and took some deep, albeit still shaky, breaths. “It’s okay, that wasn’t that bad. We’re all safe. A little freaked out, yeah… especially your past self,” he added in a whisper, “but we’re all good now. Yeah?”

Sonic took a moment to respond, but he eventually nodded. “Yeah. Thanks,” he said quietly, his voice sounding thick. “I don’t… I don’t know what happened. I knew this dumb scar gave me some weird powers, but this… I have  _ time powers. _ What the  _ hell.” _

“I know, I know,” Tails said calmly, “but you need to just chill out for a second, okay? Just take a little bit and rest. Like, actually try and clear your mind, because worrying about this is just going to make it worse again.”

The hedgehog huffed, knowing Tails was right. He tried to steadily breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth. Tails was  _ back _ , everyone was back. They had returned to normal speed, and for that the blue hedgehog was grateful. He focused just on the feeling of his brothers hands on his shoulders, feeling their weight, as the other members of their party began to quietly discuss everything that was going on. Sonic, luckily, was able to block their words out and just listen to their now non-distorted voices.

“So wait a minute,” Scourge muttered, “am I the only one of the three of us without some new power they just discovered?” He sat down and crossed his arms frustratedly over his chest. “That’s bullshit.”

The younger Sonic shot him a glare. “You think older-me  _ wants _ these powers?!”

“You guys can never tell when I’m kidding, can you?” the green one sighed. “Whatever. So that… whatever it was… is all over now?”

Zonic nodded, taking a seat next to Sonic. “Yeah. Everything’s okay.” He breathed deeply through his nose and quietly observed the older hedgehog next to him. Sonic hadn’t been acting quite like himself since this whole adventure had started, but to call himself useless and then panic like he’d just did… this wasn’t the Sonic he grew up watching, and looking up to. This was everything Sonic usually kept bottled up, and  _ then _ some. The self-doubt was definitely new and unusual. But he could get through it. He had to. He was Sonic, Sonic  _ Prime. _ “Everything’s okay,” Zonic said to himself, fists clenched tight.

The two young time travelers, the only ones left standing, lowered themselves to the ground and completed the circle once again. No one spoke above a murmur, wanting to wait for the older Sonic to compose himself. He did after a minute or two, picking his head up and rubbing at one of his eyes. “Okay,” he said softly, his lavender eyes still avoiding everyone else’s gaze. “I’m all good. Sorry. So… what’s the plan?’

Zonic shrugged and rested his elbows on his knees. “We’re not sure. Just keep walking until something happens, I guess. I think we were all kinda hoping that you’d be in better shape than this, to kind of, lead the charge, y’know? But if you’re not feeling up to it, that’s… fine, we’ll think of something else. Just keep moving.”

Scourge groaned. “And then what? What if we do find the last Chaos Emerald down here, or the Time Eater, or something else entirely? Blue can’t use the Emeralds, he said so himself. I don’t like the chances of just three Super hedgehogs against the Time Eater, and he’s a literal ticking time bomb. Don’t play this off like it’s no big deal, Z. We’re fucked.” He climbed to his feet, blinking as his head swam for a moment. No… more than a moment. The dizzy feeling wouldn’t go away. He stumbled, collapsing to his knees.

“Woah, jeez!” Tails yelped, jumping up and trying to catch him as he went down. “Are you okay?”

“Scourge!!” gasped Lil’ T.

Scourge inhaled sharply, holding his head in his hands. “Shit!” he breathed, the room spinning. His eyes were shut tight, and he felt someone’s hand on his back, steadying him. Probably Tails’s. “Goddamn, what the  _ fuck…” _

“What happened?” the two Sonics asked, both moving to get up. Scourge said nothing, keeping quiet as he caught his breath. His head was starting to clear, and he dared to open his eyes. Things looked blurry, but he could make out Tails glaring at him. He closed his eyes again.

“Scourge,” the older fox harshly muttered. “Tell them. They need to know.”

“Tell us what?” Zonic asked, kneeling next to them. Everyone looked at the green hedgehog expectantly, wondering what Tails meant.

“Ugh…  _ fine,”  _ the Moebian grunted, lowering himself all the way down to the ground so he could sit. He clutched his head and looked down to the gravel, trying to avoid everyone’s gaze. “I haven’t slept. In a while. So I… yeah, shit, I almost passed out.”

“And why haven’t you been sleeping?” Tails asked, leading him on.

“Chaos, Tails, gimme a sec,” Scourge said quietly. Looked like to was time to spill everything. He sighed. “Nightmares. Like… every night.  _ Bad ones.  _ Bad enough that I stayed up all night to avoid having them. So sorr-ee for not being in top form right now, but between the nightmares, the flashbacks, the hallucinations... “ He held his head in his hands. “...Tails thinks it might be… PTSD.”

Well, he did it. He said the magic words, and everyone went silent. The only sound was the crashing of the gentle waves against the rocky shore. It was a long, tense moment before anyone spoke.

“I knew you’d had a bad dream or two recently,” Sonic said, his voice a whisper, “but every night…  _ PTSD…  _ That’s gotta be terrible. Jeez…”

“Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” Zonic asked, his normally stoic face showing his concern. “Maybe we could’ve helped!”

“How could you have helped? How?!” The green one shouted, half angry, half upset. He  _ hated _ talking about this,  _ hated _ being pitied. Why did this have to come up now?

“I’m a  _ cop  _ whose dimension is at  _ war.  _ I know people who have gone through this!” the No Zoner yelled back. Scourge shut his mouth, not having an argument against that. Zonic paused for a moment and lowered his voice again. “I’m not an expert on this kind of stuff or anything, but that’s hell to go through alone. We at least could have been there for you.”

“Well,” the older Sonic smiled a bit, “to be fair, we were all enemies for a long time. Can’t exactly blame you for keeping this to yourself. It sucks that you dealt with it for so long on your own, but there’s not much we can do about that now.” Scourge glanced up at him, his head still tilted down. “That was some dizzy spell though. You feelin’ better?”

“M’fine,” the green one said quietly, still holding his head. “But we are  _ so _ boned. The only ones left here who aren’t hurt or fucked up somehow are big Tails and little Sonic, and that’s just not gonna cut it. How the hell are we supposed to kill this god-monster that makes the time stream its  _ bitch _ if half of us can barely move?”

No one had an immediate answer to that. Things were looking pretty grim, especially with new problems arising all the time like this. “I think…” Zonic said slowly, putting his hand on his chin, “we need to take a little bit and rest up. A lot just happened, so I think we should take a quick second to… to calm down and take everything in. We  _ are _ in rough shape, and I feel like we’re getting close to  _ something _ in this cave. There’s been an awful lot of time monsters around for there to be nothing here. We need to recuperate, at least a little bit, before we move on. At least so Scourge can sleep and I can finish healing my leg.”

“And my ankle!” Lil’ T said cheerfully, raising his hand.

“... Yes, hopefully, I can heal your ankle, too.”

Little Sonic nodded. “I agree, but we don’t have a lot of time to waste. We could get attacked at any time, and who knows what sort of damage the Time Eater’s caused since we’ve been here?”

“It’ll be a short rest, then,” Tails said, quickly noting the state of their group. “We could all use one. I think Scourge and Lil’ T are the only ones who’ve stopped for a breather so far.”

“Okay,” Zonic clapped his hands together. “Plan. I’ll work on healing my leg, then Lil’ T’s ankle. Scourge? Try and get some sleep. I know you might not want to, but you almost passed out from exhaustion. A quick nap will help, trust me.” He turned his attention to the scarred black-and-purple hedgehog. “Sonic, you need to rest, too. You almost drowned earlier, and being tired and stressed out isn’t going to help your whole ‘powers’ situation. Eat something if you haven’t. Tails, keep him calm, keep him grounded. Sound good?”

The others nodded, none objecting to the idea of a break. Scourge muttered “sure thing, mom,” under his breath, earning him a small grin and an eyeroll from the Zone Cop.

The younger Sonic cleared his throat. “And what about me, o mighty Caller of The Shots? I feel fine, I don’t think I need much rest.”

“Yeah, I know, I’m thinking,” the officer hummed. He looked around the long chamber they were in, trying to come up with something. His eyes settled on the furthest end of the cave, the way they’d been walking before they found the older Sonic washed up on the rocky shore. “How do you feel about running recon?”

The young speedster nodded. “I can do that. Check and see if there actually  _ is _ anything big ahead.” He stood up and started to stretch out his legs.

The older fox removed his communicator from his wrist. “Here,” he passed it to the small hog. “My comm still works, and so does Zonic’s helmet, as long as we’re still in the same time zone. Keep in touch.”

Mini-Sonic slipped the device onto his wrist as Zonic switched on the communicator function of his helmet. “Come back as soon as the signal starts getting shaky. And don’t do anything too risky!” the captain ordered, starting to feel like he was in his element for once.

“Yeah yeah, I’ll be careful,  _ mom,”  _ Sonic smiled as he ran off. Zonic groaned as Scourge laughed.

“Hey, only I can call him that!” the Moebian said. “See? It’s not just me. You’re totally a mom.”

The cop slid his helmet on over his head and started assembling the group’s Chaos Emeralds. “Less sass. More sleep,” he smirked. Scourge rolled his eyes as the younger hedgehog crossed his legs and let the six Emeralds float around him.

Everyone took that as a cue to assume resting positions. Tails took the remaining food they had out of their packs and distributed it amongst the team, whom at this point, were all hungry. The fox started chatting up his older brother, trying to cheer him up and keep his mind off his current condition.

Scourge took a few bites of his sandwich, but the thought of going to sleep made his stomach turn. The thought that  _ everyone knew that he was having nightmares  _ made him feel particularly nauseous. Sure, he’d left out the specific details of his dreams, so only Tails knew about that. But they all knew the basic gist, now. They’d just wanted to help, but he hated feeling pitied. The guys had all seen him particularly vulnerable over the past few days, and he still half expected negative consequences to that. But they were just concerned about him, something Scourge was still getting used to. It was kind of annoying, but they just wanted to help, after all. Could he really be mad at them for that?

“Scourge?” Lil’ T spoke softly, tugging on the sleeve of the hedgehog’s jacket. The Moebian turned his head to look down at him. “I don’t know what PTSD is, it sounds bad, but… have you really been having bad dreams every night?”

Scourge reached to remove the child’s hand from his jacket, but stopped halfway and sighed. “Yeah, pretty much. I don’t… really wanna talk about it, kid.”

“So last night, you were…”

“Awake the whole time, yeah. And I ain’t too keen on takin’ a nap right now, either.” He turned away shifting so his back was to the small fox.

“... Are you afraid?” the child hesitantly whispered. Scourge said nothing, his quills bristling. Lil’ T moved around him until he was at the hedgehog’s side again. “‘Cause… I might be able to help.”

“Oh, do tell,” the green one said skeptically.

“Well, whenever I have bad dreams, Sonic tells me that everything’ll be okay, and then I sleep with him and I don’t have the bad dreams anymore,” Tails said, hope shining in his dark eyes. “So, since we’re friends, maybe if you sleep with me, then you won’t have any nightmares!”

Scourge frowned. “That’s a nice thought T, but I don’t think that’s how it works,” he said tiredly.

Lil’ T huffed and scrunched up his shoulders. “It  _ does _ work! And we’re gonna try it, ‘cause you need sleep, mister!!”

“PFT” the hedgehog snorted, starting to grin at the kid’s determination. “Ah, well, if you insist, how can I argue?” he deadpanned, letting himself drop to the ground. Tails quickly snuggled himself in with him, getting a little cuddlier than he would have prefered. Scourge scooted back a bit, not wanting to get that soft and snuggly, especially in front of other people..

“You’ll be just fine, I know it,” the fox yawned, feeling a bit sleepy himself. His sleep had been interrupted by a monster attack, after all. “G’night.”

“Yeah, g’night.”

“And actually sleep this time!”

_ “Alright,” _ Scourge closed his eyes, exasperated. As much as he didn’t want to sleep, he did feel sleepier as he laid down, and the kit who continued to snuggle against him was warm as a blanket. He couldn’t help but yawn. He supposed he couldn’t escape sleeping anymore. He’d almost blacked out when he stood up for a second, after all. And hey, maybe Lil’ T’s plan to get rid of his nightmares would work. Weirder things had happened. He needed to at least try.

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails sat a few feet away, trying to not look directly at the heartwarming scene unfolding in front of them. They’d wanted to give Scourge some privacy while he tried to sleep, but it was pretty cute how close he and Lil’ T were.

“Well,” Sonic whispered, “I see they’ve made up.”

The older Tails took a sip of his water and nodded. “Mmm. I hope Scourge sleeps okay.”

“Me too. How long have you known about this, by the way?” the hedgehog uttered. “Because he said you know about this. And…. PTSD?”

“He told me the night before we left Moebius,” Tails said back, equally quiet. “He made me promise not to tell anyone. He didn’t want  _ anyone _ to know, but… he seemed so upset. He need help from  _ some _ one, and he picked me I guess.” He twisted the cap back onto his water bottle, holding the plastic tight. “He said he’d been having flashbacks and hallucinations, too. I don’t really know if it’s PTSD or not, but it sure sounds like it could be.”

“Chaos… Poor guy. I feel bad,” the dark hedgehog said, rubbing his arms. He could practically feel the paradox energy bubbling up again. “He’s really been trying, and he’s turned out to be a kind of decent guy, y’know? He doesn’t deserve this.”

Tails eyed the energy beginning to drip off of him again, signifying the hedgehog was starting to get upset. “It’s okay, he’ll be alright. He’s got little me with him,” the fox smiled. Unfortunately, Sonic showed no signs of cheering up. Tails’s smile faded. “Sonic,” he quietly worried, “Scourge’ll be alright. We’ll  _ all _ be alright. So chin up, okay?”

“Yeah, sorry…” Sonic blinked. He looked at his ungloved hand, studying the scarred skin. “Having this Time Eater crap inside of me is a real downer, gotta say. Plus…” he paused, gripping his own cold arms again. “I was pretty worried about you guys. I thought you all might be… y’know, dead. Guess I’m just feeling a little overprotective ‘cause of that.”

“Please, you’ve always been protective,” the teenager scoffed. “You should’ve seen your younger self earlier. He didn’t vocalize it much, but he was worried sick about everyone.”

“Heh, I bet. Worrying about you was second nature when we were their age. Not only were you tiny, but you always seemed to run  _ towards _ the evil killer robots.”

“Shh, my past self is right there, you know,” Tails smirked nodding towards the small fox dozing just a few feet away. Sonic chuckled, the dark energy around him starting to fade again. The older fox breathed with relief. “So, this time energy stuff… what’s it feel like? Aside from being a downer, I mean.”

“It’s cold,” the hedgehog said, trying to think objectively about it. “And not terribly responsive. If these powers actually did what I wanted them to, it might not be so bad. But they don’t listen, they just do what they feel like. Like putting all of you in slow motion.” He sighed through pursed lips. “If I could actually use these powers, they’d probably be helpful for going up against the Time Eater. But I can’t.”

“Is… there any way you can practice? If Z can learn Chaos Energy, maybe you can learn this.”

“I don’t think we have enough time to try and figure this out, bud,” the black one shook his head, nervous about the very proposition.

“To be fair, if you use your powers right, we’d have all the time in the world,” Tails shrugged.

“I don't really wanna risk it,” Sonic said, formally shutting the idea down. “I’m not the most stable guy right now, I don’t want these dumb powers to get out of control and hurt somebody. Besides, I thought Z said you were supposed to keep me calm so I  _ don’t  _ use my powers.”

Tails smiled innocently. “Can’t blame me for being curious!”

“Tails, stop being curious,” Zonic chided from where he sat on the other end of the sort-of circle, surrounded by the six Emeralds.

The darker of the hedgehogs snickered. “Busted,” he whispered. “Yo Z, how’s your leg doin’?” The Zone Cop was apparently close enough to hear them, so he might as well be included in the conversation.

“Good,” the No Zoner replied, his visor down over his eyes. “This is a lot easier with more Emeralds.”

“I bet. I still can’t believe you can heal... Do you know how rare of a power that is?” Sonic looked at the younger hog’s leg, which from his point of view, was glowing a bright lavender, as were the Chaos Emeralds. From this close, he’d normally be able to feel their warmth without a problem, but they felt no warmer than distant stars.

“Little-you and Tails told me it was rather uncommon, yeah,” Zonic shrugged.

“Not just uncommon. I’ve never met anyone who could heal,” Sonic said. “Knuckles can sort of heal, but he’s been studying this stuff his whole life. He’s had years of practice to work on it. But you… You just have a natural talent for this stuff. That’s pretty insane. I’m impressed.”

“Heh… Thanks, Prime,” Zonic beamed. “Wish I knew how to do this so my leg didn’t scar up, but… hey, now the three of us match. You, me, and Scourge. The scarred dimensional triplets.”

“The Super Scar Brothers,” Tails laughed.

“Haha, dude, nice,” Sonic high-fived him.

Their conversation fell into sort of a lull at that point. Sonic watched on as Zonic continued to heal his leg, the remainder of the raw cuts slowly scarring over. Tails looked over at Lil’ T and Scourge, who against all odds, appeared to be sleeping soundly. The younger fox’s tails were wrapped around the pair, and the green hedgehog was snoring softly. He looked remarkably more like Sonic when he wasn’t scowling. It was quiet, the first bit of relative peace any of them had had in awhile. No one was worried that the others might be dead, and they were all (mostly) together again. They might not have been safe, but just resting together made everyone feel a little bit better, like things were almost normal. Except that Sonic was black, purple, and glowing, Zonic was a young teenager with healing powers, and Scourge was… just not doing so hot. But aside from all that. Normal.

It felt like a while before anything happened, everyone just resting and recovering from their hectic time apart. Zonic talked periodically to the younger Sonic via his helmet as his leg finished up healing. The others could barely make out the smallest hedgehog’s voice through the inner speakers, but it was enough to know that Zonic wasn’t talking to himself. But the latest message Z got was loud and fast, Sonic talking a mile a minute.

“Woah, woah, Sonic, calm down!” Zonic said, tilting his head down and pressing his hands against the side of the helmet to keep it in position. “Are you okay? What’s going on? … Oh… Oh gods, you’re kidding… Shit.  Shit, okay. Stay hidden, keep quiet. We’ll be right there. Guys!” he said, picking his head up.

“What’s happening?” Tails asked as Sonic moved to shake Scourge and Lil’ T awake.

“I got good news and bad news,” Zonic gulped. “The good news is that Sonic’s past self found the last Chaos Emerald.”

Sonic grimaced. “And the bad news?”

“He also found the Time Eater.”


	30. End of the Multiverse

Mini-Sonic was dashing through the cavernous hallway ahead of them, alone except for the communicator around his wrist. He raced through the corridor, avoiding stalagmites as he went, and keeping a close eye out for anything dark, purple, and monster-like. He had been sent ahead to scout out the area, the other five members of the group resting and regaining their strength. He was running into unknown territory, but he had a strong feeling that something was ahead. There had been a lot of monsters in this cave, and for it to be empty wouldn’t make a ton of sense. They had to be hanging around here for a reason. Sonic had left all the Emeralds with the others in hopes that if he did run into the Time Eater, he wouldn't be noticed, but he felt vulnerable running into this sort of potential danger without one.

"Hey, Sonic," Zonic's voice came over the communicator's speaker. "Anything yet?"

"Nothing yet. I'll let you know," the pre-teen said, picking up the pace. They were running out of time. He could sense that the ground was becoming less and less stable. He wasn't about to give up, though. He would let the Time Eater consume Mobius over his dead body.

After a while, the narrow cave opened up into a massive cavern, comparable in size to Hot Crater. Only this one wasn't filled with magma. It looked like a castle inside, completely decked out in gold, purple, and green. There were carvings of the seven Emeralds and the Master in the stone walls, and the place had waterfalls and fountains everywhere. The hedgehog stood at the entrance in awe, staring up at the structures in front of him. Everything seemed to be glistening, like the whole place was made out of gems. "Woah... " he breathed. It looked sort of like the Hidden Palace in Angel Island, but bigger and newer. It was stunning to look at.

He suddenly got a dark feeling in the pit of his stomach, and he heard something massive moving around and growling. Sonic ducked behind a pillar, feeling pretty sure that something was in here with him. Lo and behold, from behind a golden bridge rose the Time Eater, looking at least twice as big as it did last time, and so much more menacing. Its claws were like long scythes, dripping with poisoned time energy. Black and purple vibes were radiating off it, rotting the surrounding environment wherever it got too close to him. Sonic's eyes widened as he saw small parts of the underground palace fading away, replaced by milky-white nothingness.  _ 'The white limbo we were all stuck in when we fought this thing the first time... He's bringing that place here! He's making it so that this place never existed!'  _ he realized with a gasp. This was bad. How much of Mobius had he already reduced to nothingness? How much of his home had been wiped from existence?

“Z-Zonic,” he breathed into the communicator, shrinking lower to the ground and hoping the Time Eater didn’t see him. “It’s here. It’s here, and everything’s starting to get wiped from history, this is bad, it’s  _ here _ and it’s  _ huge _ and I don’t know where I am but it’s  _ disappearing _ and you all need to get here  _ right freaking now--” _

“Woah, woah, Sonic, calm down!” the Zone Cop whispered back, realizing the tension of the moment. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine, I’m fine. The hallway opened up into this…  _ palace. _ It’s entirely underground, like it’s built into the rock. It’s straight ahead from where you are. I think… hang on.” He closed his eyes, trying to ignore the pulsating dark energy that was filling the chamber. He caught a pinprick of light in the darkness, and located its source. There was an Emerald in here, alright. He looked up, obsidian eyes rapidly scanning the environment. The Time Eater had drifted further away from him, so he felt comfortable looking around for an extended period of time. He looked all over, not moving from his spot, trying to pinpoint the Emerald’s location. He finally saw the gray gem, shining bright in a wall high up above. ”The last Emerald is here. Out of reach, but I can probably climb to it.  And… parts of this place are starting to disappear. The Time Eater’s  _ here _ and it’s absorbing all the time from this place until there’s nothing left.”

“Oh gods, you’re kidding… Shit.  Shit, okay. Stay hidden, keep quiet. We’ll be right there. Guys!” Zonic said, no longer talking to him, but to the other members of their group. 

“Zonic, the Time Eater’s not looking. I might be able to get to the last Emerald. Should I go for it?”

“No, not without backup. You went in for recon only, and this is too risky. Sorry,” the older hedgehog said. “Wait for us to get there, okay? Older-you wants to wait till we’re all back together, come up with a plan.”

“Since when does he stop and plan anything?” the kid whispered harshly into the communicator, hiding behind the pillar once again. “When you all show up, Mr. Big Bad over here is going to sense the Emeralds you’re all carrying, and if we don’t have all seven when he does, it’s game over! This might be my only chance at getting that thing.”

“Sonic, no! It’s not safe!”

“Let me tell you something,” the twelve-year-old said, a determined look on his face. “I’m Sonic the Hedgehog. I’ve saved Mobius from Robotnik more times than anyone could have expected. And if there’s one thing I’ve learned from being stuck eight years in the future,” he said, staring down at the communicator, “it’s that Sonic the Hedgehog does not sit by on the sidelines when there’s something he can do to help!” Without waiting for the No Zoner to reply, he switched off the device and tucked it under the cuff of his glove. He stood up and leaned around the pillar, seeing that the Time Eater was still a ways away from the Chaos Emerald and looking in the opposite direction. Good. He was only going to get one shot at this.

Sonic looked around, trying to find a path upwards. There seemed to be plenty of springs at his disposal, not to mention zip lines, ramps he could use to easily run up cliff walls, and even some things he could swing off of to get higher. He nodded once to himself before dashing out from behind the pillar and leaping onto a nearby spring. The spring launched him up high into the air, shooting him through a waterfall, and having him land on a golden platform on the other side. He shivered and shook the water off of himself before continuing onward, racing towards the opposite end of the huge cavern. He ran over a bright green bridge, which he could feel sink with his weight. The bridge glowed bright wherever he stood on it, and he could practically feel the Chaos Energy brimming inside it. He passed the bridge and ran up another small wall, using his light speed dash on a trail of rings to bring him even higher and farther. He grabbed hold of a zip line handle, having no place to land at the end of the ring trail, and glided downwards. The hedgehog was still moving forward though, so he was willing to sacrifice the height. While riding the zipline, he glanced sideways over at the Time Eater. It still hadn't seen him, but it looked like it was starting to come around. _ 'Dammit!' _ he thought, grinding his teeth. He just needed another minute...!

He jumped off the zip line and landed on another floor, this one luckily having a staircase that lead upwards. Sonic sped up the stairs, using all the speed he had in his small body, reaching the top almost instantly. It was then that he noticed that the water from the waterfalls all around him was beginning to fall faster than usual. As if gravity had increased, or...

He looked around at the Time Eater again, and the beast was staring straight at him.  _ 'He's slowing me down. He's slowing me down! Don't stop, go go go! _ ' he mentally shouted to himself, frantically running up the wall to the Chaos Emerald. It was stuck in a crack, deeply nestled in the polished stone of the palace. He almost lost his footing a couple times, partly because he was trying to go so fast, and partly because the wall was beginning to disappear from under him as he Time Eater approached. The monster was moving much faster than before, and was gaining on him quickly. The hedgehog jumped, rocketing up the surface of the wall, and getting close to the Emerald. He reached an arm out as he began to fall closer and closer to the wall. "Come on... come on baby...!" he said through clenched teeth, his fingers straining as he stretched as far as he could. The Time Eater was almost directly below him now. Sonic's fingers curled around the Emerald, and he immediately felt it frantically _ ba bump ba bump ba bump _ inside of him. Even the Chaos Emerald felt faster than him. He placed his feet against the wall and pulled with all his might, trying to dislodge the gem from the wall. It was stuck fast, refusing to budge. Sweat beaded down his forehead as his arms started shaking. The Time Eater was getting even closer. He could feel the dark energies coming off it, he could feel the world around him getting faster and faster as it approached. It was getting too close to him now, he wasn't going to make it--

All of a sudden, the cave wall vanished, turning to white, and the Emerald was free. Sonic fell, reflexively curling into a ball and pulling the Chaos Emerald tight into his chest. He spindashed down what remained of the cave wall, blasting past the Time Eater. The Emerald protected him from the monster's attempts to slow him down, and he miraculously reached the bottom of the cave in tact.

Not taking any more chances, the hedgehog turned the communicator on his wrist back on, and made his way back to the palace entrance. The Zone Cop’s voice buzzed through the speakers, but he barely listened. “-onic, I swear, if you don’t pick up right now I am gonna--”

“I got it!” Mini-Sonic shouted into the speaker, not caring about secrecy now. “I got the last Emerald! The Time Eater is  _ not happy,  _ so I could really use that backup you were talking about!” he huffed, hurdling his way over large crystals and gemstones that littered the floors. He gripped his hand tight around the Chaos Emerald and Chaos Controlled to a lower platform as the Time Eater began to catch up with him. He was afraid to teleport much further than that. He wasn’t experienced enough to take a chance teleporting anywhere outside of his line of sight.

He looked down at his blurring feet and saw that the bridge he was running over was beginning to turn white. He jumped down without thinking, not having any idea where he would land. He just hoped it wasn’t--

_ Splash! _

\--wet. Fantastic. The small hedgehog tumbled through the water, the speed of his impact causing him to spin uncontrollably. He had no idea which way was up, but he had a strong feeling he was sinking. His mind went into panic mode as he began kicking furiously, trying anything to get back up to the surface. He saw a dark form approaching him from above, or what he assumed was above anyway.  _ ‘Is that the Time Eater? Oh man, I am so done for,’ _ he thought, closing his eyes shut and curling up into a ball instinctively. He held the Chaos Emerald tight, hoping it would stave off the beast. It didn’t. He felt fingers worm their way around his arm, and then he felt himself getting pulled. He was quickly ascending, thanks to whatever was tugging on his arm.

Before he knew what exactly was happening, he had broken the surface of the water, and continued right up into the air. He coughed and sputtered as his lungs craved oxygen. Once he took a few deep breaths, he looked up to see that it was Tails carrying him, not the Time Eater. “You okay, big bro?” the older fox asked, keeping a firm grip on him as he flew.

“A-OK, little bro,” the hedgehog sighed in relief. “Thanks for the save. Thought I was a goner, there!”

“Any time. Now let’s get out of here!” the kit said, glancing behind and seeing that the Time Eater was still chasing them. It was gaining ground relentlessly, and it looked awfully mad. Tails carried Sonic back into the tunnels, flying as fast as his namesakes could take him. Once they entered the narrower caves again, the blue one let go of his hands, dropping to the floor. He took a page out of Scourge’s book from before, and spindashed the walls and ceiling so rocks crashed down around them. That would hopefully slow the Time Eater down, giving him and the others a chance to go Super. Then again, the creature could control the time stream, so maybe it wouldn’t help. There was no time to dwell on it.

The duo raced back to the rest of the group, who weren’t too deep into the tunnels. Zonic was on his feet, leg fully healed. His older-self, unfortunately, still looked pretty wrecked. Scourge still had slight bags under his eyes, but he had snapped wide awake when he heard the Time Eater’s roar come from so close by. The roar shook the ground, nearly tripping up the younger Sonic. 

Scourge gulped. “Y’know guys, I hate to say it, but I might be having some second thoughts about fighting this thing.”

“Too late for that!” Mini-Sonic shouted, nearly crashing into them. “Emeralds, now! Get ‘em out!” The Emeralds were all already in Zonic's possession, so he quickly pulled them out and handed the six to the smaller hedgehog. "Okay, you guys ready?" Sonic asked as the gems began to float around him.

"Um," the Zone Cop said nervously, "I've never been Super, how exactly do you...?"

"I got hurt just trying to use one of the Emeralds like this," the older Sonic said, looking at his palms. "I don't know if I can do this."

His past self groaned in exasperation as he began to turn golden, his quills swooping up and his black eyes turning red. "Sorry, but too bad so sad! We don't have time for this, you're all just gonna have to give it your best try!"

The Time Eater roared in the distance, proving his point. The other three hedgehogs gathered around him, nervousness all in their guts for various reasons. The Chaos Emeralds spun around all four of them, attempting to share with the others the power they lent to the young Sonic. Scourge transformed immediately, turning a deep magenta rather than a bright gold, his short, choppy quills being dragged upward as far as they could. His scleras turned pitch black, and his eyes glowed red. Interestingly, his clothes were also affected by the Chaos Energy; the flames on his jacket turning from red to blue, and the green on his boots turning purple to match his fur.

The younger Sonic stared at Scourge in surprise. "Well, that's... different," he noted.

"Yeah, well, I'm the anti-you. What'd you expect?" the glowing purple hedgehog said, grinning despite the dangerous circumstances. He'd only ever turned Super with Anarchy Beryl before, his world's twisted version of the Chaos Emeralds. He'd always wondered if his Super form was purple because of the Beryl or not, but it looked like it was just a Scourge thing. Hopefully this meant his powered-up form would be long-lasting, as well. The last time he'd turned, he'd lasted a good long while in the form, longer than Sonic would have been able to. He felt like he'd been hit by a truck after he powered down, but he would worry about that when the time came. The Chaos Energy definitely felt different, though. It felt... lighter somehow, like it energized something at his core, but didn't send it into a frenzied overdrive like Anarchy Beryl did. This felt more controlled. Better. He still felt scared out of his damn mind, but he felt like he could take on just about anything. He felt like he might be able to do this.

Zonic stared at himself in awe as his feet began to gently lift off the ground. He’d never even  _ seen  _ a Super transformation in person, let alone experienced one. All the pain that still lingered in his body melted away, his fatigue disappeared. He could feel the energy brimming through him, energizing him like he’d never felt before. He felt  _ awake,  _ like he’d spent the rest of his life drowsy and just took a cold shower.

The older Sonic’s was the strangest of the three transformations. Because, oddly enough, he did transform. With all seven Emeralds together, he had felt  _ something, _ some small spark that he latched onto and poured all his energy into. His quills swooped upward, and his lavender eyes turned red, just like the others’. But his scleras remained dark, changing only from black to very dark purple. His fur, rather than one solid color, was streaks of black-purple and gold. He took heavy breaths, as if the transformation itself had taken a bit out of him. Sonic felt better than he had a moment ago, that was for sure. Having Chaos energy actively flowing through him again did wonders. But he still didn’t feel as good as he normally would have. There was still a dark feeling in the pit of his gut, something nagging in the back of his mind. As much as he could feel the flow of Chaos energy around them, he could more accurately feel the time stream, feel its distortions. It was… weird, and a little uneasy. A near-equal mix of Chaos and time powers. This would be interesting.

“Sonic,” the older Tails gasped, eyeing the bizarrely-transformed hedgehog. “You actually transformed… kind of… Are you alright?”

He nodded tentatively. “Yeah, I think so. Everyone ready to kick some Time Eater butt?”

Another massive roar blasted through the cave, rocks tumbling down from the ceiling. They heard a crash from where mini-Sonic and the older Tails had run in from, meaning that the hastily-made blockade was likely gone.

“Jerk alert!” Lil’ T shouted, cowering behind his older-self.

“We’d better be ready to fight!” Zonic yelled over all the shaking and residual roaring. “Because it’s coming!”

“Tails!” the younger Sonic said, turning towards the two versions of his brother. “Both of you, stay hidden, and stay safe. We’ll handle this, no problem!” He smiled at them, and then nodded at the other three Super hedgehogs. It was time to end this, once and for all.

The two Sonics led the charge out of the cave, blasting through the crumbling rock and flying at high speeds right into the Time Eater, who tried to follow them into the narrow tunnels. The four hedgehogs took the beast by surprise, slamming into it and pushing it back into the open cavern.

The four floated there together, taking in the sight of the gigantic monster and the huge cave itself. Zonic and Scourge stared at the Time Eater, both clenching their fists. This was their first time getting a good, solid look at the creature; previously, they had only seen it through a shaky portal when they escaped to Moebius. The older Sonic’s attention, however, drifted upwards to the ceiling of the cave. He could feel a tug, a powerful energy coming from above him. “No…” he gasped, realizing the only thing it could be. “Lil’ Me, you recognize this place, don’t you?”

“I think so, but I’m kind of more preoccupied with the giant evil monster we just ticked off,” the youngest one said as the Time Eater gathered itself, drawing itself back up to full height. It growled, not moving, seemingly taking in its four Chaos-charged targets.

“This is the Hidden Palace, the one in Angel Island,” the older Sonic said quickly. “We’re directly underneath the Master Emerald Shrine. And the Time Eater’s already got a head start on wiping this place from history. If it gets to the Master Emerald…!” he breathed, the paradox energy beginning to drip off of him again. “If the Master Emerald never existed, then there can be no Chaos Emeralds. There can be no Chaos in general. And if there’s no Chaos Energy…”

He didn’t have to finish his sentence. Everyone knew enough about Chaos to put the pieces together. If Chaos never existed, there would have never been any life on Mobius. And no life on Mobius Prime meant to life anywhere in the multiverse. The utter gravity of the situation crashed down on them. They knew everything was at stake, sure, but the fact that the multiverse had an instant self-destruct switch, and that it was so close to being flipped… They had to do something, and do it  _ now _ .

"Do we have a plan?" Zonic asked the others, not taking his eyes off the Time Eater in front of him.

Sonic looked up at the ceiling, a large portion of which had vanished into the empty white limbo that he'd been dreading. A lot of the old stone had been erased already. He gritted his teeth. "I'm going to do what I can to keep this place in tact. If the Time Eater gets to the Master Emerald, it's all over." he said. 

“How exactly do you plan on doing that?” Zonic asked skeptically.

“Well, I’m Super, and I got time powers. I’ll figure something out,” he said with a wink. "You guys try and keep the TE away from the ceiling and away from the Tailses. Find a weak spot and exploit it like there's no tomorrow--"

"Or there won't be a tomorrow," his younger self finished for him. "We know. Get going!" he said, urging the older Sonic upwards towards the roof of the cavern.

As he blasted off, the remaining three charged the Time Eater, with Scourge and Zonic breaking off to take him from the sides and the young Sonic racing at him head-on. The twelve-year-old held his hands out in front of him, summoning energy from deep within his gut, and fired a rapid burst of Chaos blasts at the monster. Most of them made contact, but didn't seem to hurt much. The Time Eater roared, angry, and opened a variety of time holes around itself, which it shoved all four of its arms into. More holes opened up behind the small hedgehog, which the Time Eater's hands popped out of. Sonic realized this a split second too late, and was smacked hard enough that he went flying. He was luckily able to catch himself before he crashed into anything, and his distraction left the TE open to attacks from Scourge and Zonic. Attacking it with a barrage of super-charged homing attacks, kicks, and energy blasts, it looked like the two of them were doing at least  _ some _ damage. They wouldn't be able to do a whole lot to the monster until they found a vulnerable area, and since the beast had shed the machinery that Eggman had covered it with before, there wasn't an obvious 'big red button' to hit this time. Sonic flew up and over the Time Eater, which was still heavily preoccupied by Scourge and Zonic simultaneously attacking it (and also by Scourge shouting obscenities at it). He curled up into a lighting-fast spin before launching himself at the nape of the Time Eater's neck, but the beast moved before he could reach his target. 

Scourge decided to follow the younger Sonic’s lead, readjusting his aim for the back of the Time Eater's neck.  _ 'We’re all chock-full of Chaos Energy, so getting a solid hit on this thing should do some damage. That spot is as vulnerable as it gets, I guess,' _ he told himself, catching on to the kid's reasoning. The Time Eater was quick to catch on as well, and utilized the Time Holes it had opened up to reach through and slam Scourge into a wall from behind him. The Moebian crashed through a bridge, demolishing at least half of it, but easily shook it off. It was going to take more than a few cheap hits to keep him down. 

The older Sonic concerned himself with mending the timestream while the other three kept the Time Eater occupied. There was too much damage to just ignore and worry about after the fight. He needed to fix at least some of this  _ now. _ He flew to the tall ceiling of the cavernous palace, where a majority of the white cracks seemed to be. The Master Emerald was directly above them, he could feel it. He couldn’t let the Time Eater reach it. If it did… bye-bye multiverse.

He held his hands over a large white crack, feeling the heavy distortions of time coming from it. He tried to ignore the warning bells going off in his head, telling him that single-handedly repairing the time stream was  _ impossible _ , and instead focused on as much as the surrounding energy as he could. His Super form allowed him much more power in this regard. His eyes were closed, but he could still see clearly-- the energy coming off of his friends, the Time Eater, even the environment itself was as clear as day to him. Still, though… he had no idea how to fix this. He was a super powered walking paradox, and while he definitely felt like he had greater control over his time powers in this state, he still didn’t quite know how to use them. He would just have to do his best. The purple-and-gold hedgehog focused on the crack closing, expelling through his hands a mix of the two energies inside of him. The Chaos and Paradox energies didn’t mesh well, behaving similarly to oil and water. Nevertheless, the crack in spacetime began to slowly close, the two edges struggling and failing to stay apart. The holes closest to him were the easiest to fix up; after all, he and his younger self had healed the broken parts of time just by running through drained environments when they fought the TE the first time. Everything that was further away would become exponentially harder to heal, but he tried not to think about that for now. For now, his job was to protect the Master Emerald, and by extension, the entire multiverse and everyone in it. No pressure.

The three hedgehogs below had adopted the strategy of trying to aim for the back of the Time Eater’s neck. They weren’t sure if it was the monster’s weak spot or not, but it was certainly being guarded like one. The Time Eater was throwing out missile-like beams of energy that locked on to whoever was nearest, opening up time holes to try and grab the hedgehogs from behind, and manipulating what was left of the time stream to speed itself up. Eventually, the thing was going so fast, the three super hedgehogs were even having a hard time keeping up with it.

Zonic flew around the Time Eater’s homing attacks, trying to resist the urge to whoop and holler as he did so. Coming from a world that didn’t have its own Chaos Emeralds, turning Super was something he could only dream about. Especially after Doctor Nega had sealed off his speed from him, blocked off his connection to the universe’s Chaos energies... he didn’t think anything like this would ever happen to him. But there he was, soaring through the air, firing off energy blasts of his own and pulling off stunts he only could have imagined. If the multiverse wasn’t close to being erased, this might have been one of the best days of his life. He felt incredible; no wonder Sonic Prime was always so cocky and energetic. It was hard not to be when you could feel the Chaos energy in the air, and to a certain extent, manipulate it freely.

He blinked, focusing back on reality. There was no time to focus on how good he felt. He needed to help the others stop the Time Eater, and quickly. He glanced upward, and saw that most of the holes in the ceiling had been patched up, as if they’d never been erased in the first place.  _ ‘Is Sonic… Is he  _ fixing  _ all the rips in the time stream?!’  _ he thought with disbelief.  _ ‘Well, he  _ is _ Sonic Prime. No Zone records call him the “champion of all realities” for a reason, I gue-- OOF!’ _ The split second he took looking up was enough for the Time Eater to blast him right in the chest. It didn’t hurt at all, miraculously, but he got pushed backwards with tremendous force. He spun out, trying to get a hold of which way was up. He connected his feet to the ground, skidding to a stop. He crunched his boot into the gravel as he quickly scanned for an opening. Getting up close would be tough, since time holes were everywhere and the Time Eater was shooting off energy blasts like nobody’s business.

Something clicked in the No Zoner’s head, and he grinned. He shot off the ground and flew back towards the creature, shouting to get its attention. The Time Eater’s dark purple energy blasts locked onto him quickly, and he kited them right towards one of the time holes. Silently praying that one of the the Time Eater’s four arms wouldn’t come plunging out of the portal, he got right up close to it and turned to face the incoming spheres of energy. They were coming in fast, and Zonic only had a split second to react. Just before they hit him, he flew upwards, and the blasts flew through the portal instead of into his chest. He looked up at the Time Eater, which was surrounded with the time holes. The monster had been using them to extend its reach, but it was apparently too dumb to realize that the holes went both ways. The energy blasts that Zonic had lured into the hole came out of another one, and headed right towards the Time Eater’s head. They connected with a harsh explosion, causing the Time Eater to unleash a mighty roar. Time and space distorted with the powerful sound waves, sending the airborne hedgehogs stumbling. The elder Sonic, who was still trying to fix as much as he could of the time stream, found himself struggling to hold on to the progress he’d made so far. The younger Sonic, however, was trying his best to push through the waves of distortion. He curled up into a ball, shoving himself forward and blasting into the Time Eater’s neck. With the added damage from the small hedgehog’s attack, the Time Eater’s roar increased in power, and the very floor and walls began to shake. Pieces of the ceiling began falling down, not because of time being erased, but because of the sound waves threatening to cause a cave in. The gigantic monster, now more furious than ever, fired energy blast after energy blast, bombarding the hedgehogs and giving them hardly any room to breathe, let alone maneuver.

The older Sonic, meanwhile, was beginning to change his mind. Maybe this would be harder than he initially thought. He was struggling with the cracks in the time stream; there were too many of them, and they didn’t want to stay closed. Chunks of the ceiling were crashing down around him, and it was all he could do not to get hit. He wanted to get down there, to fight, to give the monster who caused him so much pain a piece of his mind. But Mobius was on the fast track to total destruction, and he had a  _ very _ bad feeling about leaving his post to go do battle. Not to mention, all of his hard work in restoring the ceiling had gone to waste now that it was crumbling around him. There was nothing he could do about that, however-- all of his energy was focused on the planet, and getting its timeline back in working order. He had to fix what he could; it was his duty, his responsibility. 

He’d only been doing this for a few minutes, and yet he was already starting to sweat, something he didn’t even think was possible for him in his Super form. He had to be careful and ration his own energy, or else he would lose the transformation. The Emeralds had unlimited power, true, but the hedgehog did not. He could access a large portion of the Emeralds’ energy in his super-charged state, but not enough that he could keep this up forever. He wasn’t a god, after all. But yet, there he was, trying to fix an almost destroyed time stream. _ ‘If I make it out of this alive, it’ll be a miracle,’ _ he thought nervously, the sweat beading on his forehead. The violet-and-gold hedgehog could hear his friends fighting for his lives below him, could hear them calling for his help. But if he let time continue to splinter and break, they’d be screwed. He couldn’t let the Time Eater reach the Master Emerald. The Master Emerald, which was so close he could  _ feel _ it--

It was as if a light bulb had gone off in his brain. Just because the Time Eater couldn’t get its hands on the Master Emerald, didn’t mean he couldn’t. His eyes quickly scanned the surrounding area, looking for a possible path up to where the Master Emerald currently rested. Not too far from where he was floating, he saw a hole in the roof of the cave that didn’t look like it had been created by all the current pandemonium. Zipping over, Sonic found that there was indeed a twisting and turning pathway through the rock that seemed to lead upwards. Not having any time to waste, he blasted through the narrow tunnel, completely ignoring the stairs carved into the bottom of it.

The path through the rock stretched up further than he thought it would. He’d assumed the Master Emerald was closer since he felt its presence so strongly, but the strength of that signal was likely just because he was Super and could sense it more acutely. The Hidden Palace was deep underground, after all, and they’d been in those caves an awfully long time. Upon surfacing, the hedgehog noticed the sky was dark and stormy. Then again, almost everything in his vision was dark, but the sky seemed especially so. There was no wind, no life or movement anywhere near him. Above ground felt just as lonely and quiet as below, just not quite so enclosed.

He’d popped out of the ground almost directly next to the Master Emerald shrine. He’d never seen this passage from the surface before, so perhaps something had happened to it in the years since Hidden Palace had been constructed. But that wasn’t important. What held Sonic’s attention was the bright,  _ green _ Master Emerald sitting at the top of the shrine. It was the only thing he’d seen since his eyes changed that wasn’t black or purple, and it was certainly refreshing.

“Well, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes,” he said quietly, floating up to the top of the shrine. The large Emerald seemed to buzz more than hum, as if it were confused by the crumbling timeline and the current state of the Super hedgehog that came before it. “I know, nothing’s quite right right now. I wanna fix that, but I’m gonna need your help. So what do you say we forget about ‘Super Emeralds’ and all that crap, just cut out the middle man, and skip right to me going Hyper so I can save the world, huh?”

While Sonic was charging up, his past-self, Zonic, and Scourge were momentarily seeking out refuge behind a large pile of rubble. While they had managed to land some solid hits on the Time Eater, the creature didn’t even appear to be tired in the least. It had been firing energy blasts from all directions for a few solid minutes now, and the hedgehogs were having difficulty dodging the onslaught. While the homing shots didn’t hurt, they were still forced back, and one can only be launched through a wall so many times before it becomes tiring.

“We need a plan,” Scourge said, his hands balled up into fists. He was covered in dirt and dust from crashing to the ground so often, and one of his jacket sleeves had been torn clean off. Needless to say, he was starting to get sick of this.

“Sonic,” Zonic said, momentarily standing up from behind their shelter and firing energy blasts from his hands at the Time Eater, then ducking back down again. “How did you beat this guy last time?!”

“I don’t know!” the small golden form said, wracking his brain for memories of his last fight with the Time Eater. “Robotnik and Eggman had this thing covered in all sorts of machinery and tech. There was a giant purple orb at its center, right where its chest is. Me and older-me combined our power to blast through it, but… I’m not seeing anything like that now!” he groaned, peeking a look at the monster causing havoc in the large cavern. “The back of his neck is a decent enough spot, but getting there is hell, and it doesn’t seem to do a whole lot more damage to him than hitting him anywhere else does.”

“Combined your power?” Zonic raised an eyeridge. “What does that mean?”

“I’unno, we just both charged him at once!” the young hedgehog shrugged.

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Scourge said, dusting off his knees. “Better than just flying around and attacking it blindly. And when the hell is Sonic going to get down here and fight with us?! Leavin’ us with all the hard stuff…”

It was then that Mini-Sonic realized that the barrage of firepower directed towards them had slackened significantly. He looked up and saw the Time Eater slowly drifting upwards, headed in the older Sonic’s direction. Or, where Sonic should have been, anyway. He was gone, having left the roof of the cave unguarded. “Where did he…?” the twelve-year-old breathed, his eyes going wide. Zonic and Scourge turned to look, equally surprised to see that the elder Sonic wasn’t there. Three pairs of red eyes scanned the area, looking for any sign of their friend. The younger Sonic stood up and moved to take off when Zonic pointed at a secluded dip in the rock of the ceiling. There seemed to be a golden glow emanating from it, and the whiteness that had spread like a plague through the surface of the cave was rapidly withdrawing from that area. The glow got brighter and brighter, becoming almost blinding to look at, like its source was getting closer somehow.

Something burst out of the rock in a flash, taking the powerful glow with it. It was Sonic, but he definitely wasn't Super anymore. Parts of his fur were still dark, but shone like the night sky, wrapping like ribbons around his arms and legs and splashing across his face like a mask. The rest of him glowed a brilliant white, which subtly shifted to the hues of the seven Emeralds as he moved. His eyes were completely blank, no irises to be seen. All that was there was a milky, vaguely lavender color. Zonic and the younger Sonic felt their hearts skip a beat. This was something Zonic had only heard about, only seen glimpses of video of, and something the time-traveler had experienced only once in his life. Sonic was  _ Hyper,  _ and he looked like he meant business.

The Time Eater backed away from the bright hedgehog, who was giving off so much Chaos energy that he hurt to be near. Hyper Sonic gritted his teeth and glared at the creature, but turned his attention to the roof of the cave.  **“As much as I’d love to fight you, ugly,”** he said, his voice somehow booming,  **“I’ve got a planet to save, first.”** He held his arms out to the side and closed his eyes, letting the vibrant energy pour off him in waves. He focused his energy on the white cracks, and on the rest of the planet. He had to fix this, and  _ now. _ There  _ was _ no more time left. Do or die.

**“The Servers are the Seven Chaos,”** he chanted, letting the familiar words flow from his lips while he tried to clear his mind. It wasn’t often he spoke these words, but it was serious business when he did. Though he spoke quietly, the words rung out for everyone in the cavern to hear, including the two Tailses, safe on the ground, who had come out of the narrow tunnel to see what was happening.  **“Chaos is power, power enriched by the heart. The heart is the controller. The controller serves to unify the Chaos.”** He felt the energy from the Emeralds intensify in his body, almost to an uncontrollable amount. He released it up, up towards the crack, which was splintering and spreading across the surface of the cavern. The Chaos energy pierced the physical rips in the fabric of time, turning it a rainbow of colors before closing it completely. All the offshoots sealed shut, glowing with the colors of the Emeralds. Sonic continued to channel the energy into fixing the time stream, and though no one could see it from inside Hidden Palace, Mobius was beginning to take shape again. The bits that had fallen off the planet or been sucked away returned to their rightful spots. Ruined cities restored to their present glory. Jungles regrown from the ashes. Everything put back in its proper place in time.

The Time Eater roared. If it had blood flowing through its body, it would have been boiling. It might not’ve been able to get up close to the Hyper hedgehog, but it could sure try to blast him. The monster’s hands began to glow as it raised them, aiming right toward the hedgehog that was undoing all its hard work.

The younger Sonic clenched his fists tight. His older-self might be Hyper, but the rest of them still had a job to do. Without saying anything, the twelve-year-old blasted into the air, rocketing upward at a shocking pace. His golden glow erupted around him as he charged the Time Eater, doing a bit of damage to it. More importantly, the sudden attack took its attention away from the older Sonic. The Time Eater grabbed the young hedgehog, who was still trying to drill his way into its chest, and tightened its claws around him. Sonic gulped. While his Super form protected him from projectiles and blades and the like, he was still susceptible to getting crushed. An unfortunate oversight in the whole ‘invincibility’ thing. He struggled and choked as the Time Eater squeezed harder, choking the air out of his lungs. The best he could do was let out a short scream before he could feel the energy coursing through his veins starting to fade.

_ ‘No, no no no no, I can’t run out of juice now!’ _ he thought frantically, trying to catch his breath.  _ ‘The Super form is the only thing keeping me from being squashed like a grape right now!’ _ He managed to squirm himself into a slightly better position, and the pressure on his chest was released a tiny bit. He took as deep as a breath as he could, and did his best to keep from shouting as he could feel himself being squished.

When Scourge and Zonic on the ground saw that Mini-Sonic wasn’t breaking free, they jumped out from their hiding place and took off into the air. They looked at each other once, both pairs of red eyes meeting, and they nodded. They flew close to each other, spinning like a drill aimed directly at the Time Eater’s center. The purple-and-gold torpedo sped towards the monster, coming into contact before the beast could coordinate its other arms to block the attack. The two of them hit the Time Eater hard, sending it tumbling back and releasing its grip on little Sonic. The small hedgehog fell through the air, his gold color having faded a bit. Coming out of the spin attack, Zonic quickly flew to catch his younger ally. Mini-Sonic was coughing furiously, one hand pressed against the side of his ribcage. He took several deep breaths before he opened his eyes. His quills were beginning to droop, and his aura wasn't as powerful as it had been a minute ago. "Are you okay?" the Zone Cop asked, landing gently on a nearby platform.

"Pissed, mainly," Sonic said as Zonic let him down. "Exhausted. Cracked rib, most likely. Pro tip: being Super doesn't stop you from being crushed," he breathed heavily. "Nice hit."

"Apparently not nice enough," Scourge said, floating a few feet away. The Time Eater was recovering from its stumble, its dark glow bursting erratically. Some sort of smoke was pouring out of where the two hedgehogs had drilled into it-- was it bleeding? Either way, it was still ready to fight some more, not letting something like a puncture wound deter it from erasing all the time and space it could get its hands on. "This guy just doesn't want to stay down!"

"Then we'll just have to keep fighting it," Zonic said, trying to sound confident. In all honesty, he was exhausted. Looking at Sonic's past self, he could tell that the smaller hedgehog was just about beat. He might be able to last for another minute in his Super form, tops. Getting the life squeezed out of him like that really took its toll. And with the older Sonic piecing the flow of time back together before the damage couldn't be undone... that just left him and Scourge. Those weren't odds he particularly liked.

The youngest hedgehog rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck, a determined look on his face. "Well, I'm not gonna be able to keep this up forever. So let's do it to it."

He took off, leading the other two through the continuing barrage of time energy blasts, executing a series of powerful homing attacks on the Time Eater. He made extra sure not to fly through the dark smoke pouring out of the beast's gut, not sure what effects it could have, and instead focused on trying to sync up with Zonic and Scourge to deliver more powerful hits. The three delivered a number of attacks in quick succession, synchronizing the majority of them, dealing major damage to the Time Eater. Just how many hits could this thing take?

"Yo, Sonic!" Scourge shouted upwards, trying to grab his good twin's attention. "Any time you wanna come and help us out down here, you are more- than- welcome!" he yelled, punctuating each word with another homing attack or energy blast.

**“Just hang on… Almost… got it…!”** Sonic cried, struggling with the weight of the world on his shoulders. Every crack had to be sealed, every temporal anomaly set right. He needed his world back, he needed to destroy every foothold the Time Eater had made in his planet. Defeating the monster didn’t mean all the damage it had done would be reversed. He needed to fix this while he still could. The hedgehog, glowing like the sun and all the stars in the sky, pushed with every bit of energy he had in his body. He was starting to feel lightheaded, but he couldn’t let up. His friends needed him, he had to finish this so he could get down there. He was close, so  _ close, _ just a little bit more…

But he didn’t have a little bit more to give. With both the paradox and Chaos energy leaving his body at such a fast rate, he felt an emptiness in the pit of his stomach, and the brightness of his aura began to fade.  _ ‘No, no no no! Come on!!’ _ Sonic thought frantically as the rest of the energy expelled itself from his body. His fur began to turn back to its natural blue, and his vision, which had been restored when he went Hyper, was starting to turn dark at the edges. His head felt empty, and at the same time like it weighed a thousand pounds. His limbs felt like lead jelly as he started to drop back to the ground, power completely used up. He tried to form a thought, something about his world or his friends, but all he managed to do was stay awake for a few more seconds before he passed out.

“Sonic!!” both Tailses shouted from the ground below, watching the battle with namesakes twitching furiously. Leaping out from their hiding spot in the entrance to the cave, the two foxes took to the air without hesitation, rushing towards their falling brother. But he was too far away, and falling too fast. Tails was fast, but he wasn’t  _ that  _ fast. Could they make it in time?

They weren’t the only ones to spring into action, however. Zonic was closest to the plummeting hedgehog, and he had luckily taken an eye off the Time Eater and saw him fall. He flew up in a flash of gold, not caring what projectiles he crashed into-- or how much of the Time Eater’s smoke he flew through and breathed in. He grabbed Sonic in mid-air, catching him bridal style just before he crashed into a platform. “Gotcha,” Zonic coughed as he set Sonic down on the ground. 

Both Tailses flew over and propped up Sonic’s limp body, while Zonic collapsed to one knee in a coughing fit. Maybe flying through the smoke coming out of the Time Eater’s body  _ wasn’t  _ the best idea. He coughed up black flakes of dust, and felt something mingling with the Chaos energy flowing through him. The golden light surrounding him started to fade, and his quills drifted back down to their natural state. “Dammit!” he wheezed, pounding his fist against his chest to try and dislodge the time energy he had accidentally inhaled. It was blocking off the link he had to the Emeralds, ending his Super transformation prematurely.

“Sonic’s alive,” the older Tails said with relief. He held on tight to his brother, who now looked completely normal. All outward trace of the time energy that poisoned his system was gone. His fur was back to its normal vibrant blue, and all that remained of his scar was a thin jagged line on his chest. “His pulse is weak, and he’s probably running on absolute empty, but he’ll live.”

“Good,” Zonic choked, his golden hue flickering and fading back to blue. “But we’re two hedgehogs down, and this thing is putting up a hell of a fight.” He and the foxes looked up at the battle that was still ongoing. Gold, violet, and black were flying around everywhere, though the gold was growing dimmer by the second. The young Sonic and Scourge double-teamed and attacked the Time Eater at every turn, but for every move they made, the monster swung at them with its massive claws, knocking them both aside. It wasn’t long before the beating, as well as the cracked rib and general exhaustion from being Super for so long, really started to cause Sonic to hurt.

“Scourge! I can’t keep this up!” he shouted over the noise of explosions, crashes, and roars. His fur was slowly starting to turn blue again, and his quills weren’t as vertical as they had been a few minutes ago. The young hedgehog usually had no trouble continuing a fight after powering down; even when his Super transformation ended, he felt great and full of energy. But he wasn’t terribly keen on getting up close and personal with the Time Eater without Chaos energy protecting him, and he knew that the dull ache of his injured rib would start to hurt a whole heck of a lot more when his Super transformation came to an end.

Scourge growled and cursed under his breath. There were  _ four  _ of them! Four different Sonics all going Super at the same time, and they were still getting beaten. It looked as if the Time Eater was on its last legs, but he still didn’t like this situation. At this rate, he was going to be the only one left who could do anything to hurt it.  _ ‘Well… You did say you wanted to try being a hero,’ _ he thought grimly.  _ ‘What better trial run is there than stopping a freaky monster with powers that could consume the entire multiverse?’ _

He shot energy blasts rapidly from his palms, aiming for the “bleeding” gash in the Time Eater’s gut. Only a few of the shots hit, and while they did appear to do damage, they weren’t particularly powerful either. Scourge gulped nervously as he realized that he was getting tired, too. He knew he could hold onto his Super form longer than the others could; he’d found out that his transformation was longer-lasting and more powerful than Sonic’s the last time he transformed. Unfortunately, one other thing he learned the last time he transformed was that once he powered down, that was it. He was done, down for the count. The last time he came out of his Super form, he was out cold for a solid day, and in a weakened state for two more after that. He couldn’t let that happen, not now. He was just going to have to try and sustain this form for as long as possible.

The Time Eater fired more homing bursts of energy at him, which he dodged easily enough, being used to the pattern by now. But the young hedgehog next to him was having a hard time simply remaining airborne. By the time Sonic noticed the torpedoes of time energy coming for him, it was a second too late. He was blasted backward by the evil energies, knocking out of his super-charged state and sending him careening towards the rest of the group. He landed with a  _ thud _ on the suspended bridge, skidding across the stone towards his friends.

Scourge tensed up, glaring daggers at the Time Eater. Despite their best efforts, his three allies had all been taken out.

It was all up to him now. Dammit.

After he saw that Mini-Sonic was okay, he turned to face the Time Eater head-on. “Okay, ya fuckin’ purple time fart. You’re really startin’ to get on my last nerve,” he shouted, trying to disguise his own fatigue. The Time Eater roared in response, shaking the cavern around even more. Scourge scratched the inside of his ear, appearing unfazed while his mind was racing. “I get it, buddy. You like to roar. Now let’s see if I can’t make you scream some more!” The hedgehog took off in a flash of purple, charging up energy in both of his fists.  _ ‘This thing is still bleeding. Getting a clean, strong shot right in that hole in its chest is the only way I can do this,’ _ he thought, looking for an opening. But the Time Eater didn’t even seem to be paying attention to him. It was far more interested in the group of virtually powerless group of five that had backed their way into a corner. As it floated towards them, Scourge swung around in back of it and fired a sort of double-barrel laser blast out of his fists, right into the center of the Time Eater’s back. It looked like it was going to make direct contact and do some major damage, but the monster opened up another time hole at the last second and redirected the beam into another wall.

Scourge blinked. Was he being ignored right now? He would have been angrier about it if the Time Eater wasn’t making his way towards the others. They were all trying to stand their ground, but it was obvious they didn’t stand a chance if they weren’t Super. The violet hedgehog felt something burning up inside of him, something white hot that filled him with rage and fear and other emotions that he didn’t even know could coincide with those. Without even thinking, he ‘ported, landing himself in between his team and the Time Eater. He held his arms out to the sides, and the purple glow that had been radiating off of him grew brighter.

“Hey asshole!” he shouted, his words echoing off the cavernous walls of the Hidden Palace. “I got a newsflash for ya.  _ These are my friends, and there ain’t no fuckin’ way I’m lettin’ you hurt ‘em!” _

Before anyone could tell what was happening, Scourge was off, flying so fast that no one could follow him. He poured all of his power into attacking the Time Eater, slamming into it again and again and drawing its attention away from the startled hedgehogs and foxes. He gritted his teeth and began to feel sweat bead down his brow. His body didn’t want to stay Super anymore. He was exhausted, almost ready to collapse. But he couldn’t.  _ ‘Just a little longer, just a little more…!’ _ he thought as he began to feel lightheaded. If he didn’t cool down with the all-out attacks, he knew he was going to pass out very soon. But the Time Eater was almost down… Just a little more…

He had successfully lured the Time Eater away from the others, but now he was getting close to being backed into a corner. Painful images of the rec yard started to flash through his mind, but he had to force them aside. Darkness started to cloud his vision, a sure sign that he was about to slip into unconsciousness. He gulped, struggling to stay awake. There was still one thing left he could try.

The Time Eater approached menacingly, reaching out one of its massive claws right towards Scourge. The hedgehog shoved his hands out towards the monster, as if he was about to fire another burst of Chaos energy. He tried to think back to what the older Sonic had said before. “The servers… are the seven Chaos,” he breathed heavily, trying to put power behind his words. “Chaos… is poWOAH!!” He ducked, a massive fist just mere inches away from having blasted straight through his skull. He dodged the barrage of punches being sent at him from all four of the Time Eater’s arms, and slipped underneath the beast to wind up behind it. “Oh, for fuck’s sake. Chaos is power, and it’s the only goddam power that can save us right now! Come on baby, give me a boost, give me something I can work with!!” he said, grinding his teeth. He could feel his power level dropping, and dull spikes of pain rushed through him with every frantic heartbeat. The Time Eater turned to face him, gripping him tight in one if its massive hands. ‘ _ This is it, isn’t it?’  _ Scourge thought as the Time Eater began to crush him, as it had done to Sonic.  _ ‘I’m done. It didn’t work. There’s no way I can get a strong enough attack on him… ‘ _ He glanced down at his friends standing below. He smiled weakly.  _ ‘Well, it was fun while it lasted, I guess.’ _

He fully expected his Super transformation to end right there, for the pain of being squished to death to suddenly flood his body. But the sensation never came. A different one hit him instead, and he actually felt his fatigue beginning to melt away. The power inside him grew, almost to the point where he felt he wouldn’t be able to control it. The purple glow around him turned a bright gold, and he managed to burst out of the Time Eater’s grip, blowing apart its hand in the process. Not even waiting for the monster to scream in pain, Scourge blasted towards it, aiming for the gaping hole in its gut. He held his breath as to not breathe in any of the smoke, and spun straight through the Time Eater.

The first thing that happened was the Time Eater screamed. The walls shook like never before, chunks of ceiling rained down, and everyone currently standing fell to their knees. Time inexplicably seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. The moment felt like an eternity, but also like a split second. For the shortest of moments, the entire timeline condensed and converged on that one single moment.

Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. The Time Eater dissolved into smoke. The remaining time energy that was corrupting the very air evaporated away. The monster was defeated.

Scourge landed close to the others, stumbled, and then collapsed. His fur immediately blinked back to its normal green color, his eyes returned to normal, and his short quills fell back down. He felt immense pain everywhere, and with every heartbeat it felt like there was a gorilla jumping up and down on his chest. His head was spinning, and everything looked blurred.

He was rolled onto his back. He was surrounded by everyone (except the older Sonic, who was still unconscious), all of them asking different variations of “are you okay?” He blinked, feeling dazed, and unable to differentiate the voices or what they were saying exactly. He got the gist, though, and grinned weakly.

“Did we win?” he asked, his voice hoarse and breathing labored.  _ Chaos, _ he hated the side-effects of being Super. He felt like he’d just been hit by a truck. All the others around him nodded.

“Yeah,” Zonic said with a smile before slapping a hand over his mouth. His voice… it wasn’t young anymore. Somehow, with all the excitement, he hadn’t even noticed, but… he was back to normal. His hand was its regular, adult size, all the small scars and calluses that originally marked them had come back. A band of colorful markings were wrapped around his wrist once more. He laughed as he looked down at himself. The Zone Cop was twenty again, and he felt… Tired. Wow,  _ very _ tired. Apparently, fighting a giant space monster and then growing seven years older all at once could really take it out of a guy.

“Hey, look who’s back,” the young Sonic said, a smile on his face and an arm wrapped around his chest. “I think everything’s back to normal now, right? We won.” The kid looked up at the spot where the Time Eater disappeared, confident that the monster wouldn’t be coming back this time. Scourge wasn’t sure, but did his eyes look… greener?

“That was  _ so way past cool!!” _ Lil’ T exclaimed, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. “I mean, aside from the part where we all almost died and the whole world almost blew up, but-- you guys were flyin’ around, all  _ whooosh _ and the Time Eater was all  _ raaarrrgh!!  _ and then Sonic was all  _ aaahhh! _ when he was fixin’ time, and then you guys were all  _ pew pew pew pew  _ and then Scourge, you came in and you went  _ pchOWWW _ and… and… That was  _ awesome!!  _ I can’t believe you did it! _ ” _  The kit’s  _ blue _ eyes were as big as dinner plates, like he’d just come out of seeing a blockbuster action movie.

Scourge was about to bring up that their eyes had suddenly changed color, but the older Tails spoke first.  _ “I _ can’t believe you called that thing a purple time fart,” he said to the green hedgehog, unable to contain a laugh. His shoulders slowly sank with relief, some of the stress and tension leaving his body. “I’m just glad this whole thing is over,” he breathed. He looked back over at Sonic, who was lying on the ground a few feet away. “We should get back to the workshop. I don’t know if Sonic needs to go to the hospital or not…”

Scourge couldn’t hear the rest of what he said. The hedgehog couldn’t stay awake any longer; his whole body was screaming in pain, his head was spinning, and he was so, so tired. It was all over. The Time Eater was gone, everyone was safe. Nothing was going to kill them. He closed his eyes and was instantly out, finally feeling safe.


	31. Goodbye

Scourge awoke slowly, with a pounding in his head. He was immediately aware that he hurt all over, like he’d been run over and set on fire. He wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep right then, but there was something nagging in his mind. Something important… why did his whole body feel so sore? It wasn’t for no reason. He thought for a few moments before remembering.

The Time Eater.

Everything came back in a rush, and the hedgehog’s eyes snapped open. The monster had been killed, right? The Time Eater was gone forever? The multiverse… everyone was safe? He looked back and forth, looking for any trace of the beast as if the fight had just concluded minutes ago. Instead of being in the Hidden Palace, he found himself in a sunny, white room-- a hospital room, he noted-- and heard faint conversation taking place outside the door. He looked around the room, quickly finding that he wasn’t the only one in it. Lying asleep in the bed to his left was Sonic, probably still out cold from patching up the entire time stream.

He relaxed fully, his head sinking back into the pillow. Everyone was safe, the multiverse wasn’t going to blow up. They were all alive. All of his… friends… the word stressed its way through his mind. Crap, he’d called them all his friends  _ out loud,  _ hadn’t he? He got a little too worked up during that final battle, he supposed. His mouth had spat out the words that his mind was still having a hard time formulating.

To be fair, if he was going to call anyone his friends, this group would definitely be the most likely candidates. Over the past couple of days, after a rocky start… they’d been encouraging him, helping him with his nightmares, worrying about him, fighting alongside him, joking with him… those were all things friends did, Scourge was pretty sure. The guys… they cared about him, didn’t they? And if his performance protecting them from the Time Eater was anything to go by, he cared about them too.  _ ‘Well fuck,’ _ he chuckled quietly to himself.  _ ‘Dunno if I’m cut out for the whole friendship thing, but what the hell. It hasn’t been too bad so far.’ _

He attempted to sit up, his muscles groaning with the effort. He hated going Super. He got immense power, more than even Sonic, but it always left him in terrible shape afterwards. The last time he went Super, he wound up unconscious for an entire day after. But this time, he’d stayed in the form way longer, used way more power. He wondered how long he had been asleep for. After a good deal of trying, he got himself up into a sitting position. His head swam, but he refused to lie back down.  _ ‘Even if being Super makes me feel like this,’ _ he thought, piling his pillows up behind him for a little bit of support,  _ ‘it was worth it. I… I got to help save the world. I saved  _ every  _ world.  _ I  _ did that… I still can’t believe it, that an asshole like me helped save everyone. Is that who I am now? I’m a…’ _ he hesitated to use the word ‘hero,’ but he still smiled at the thought.

Scourge’s ears perked up as he heard movement outside. A pair of voices filtered through the door, one sounding similar but older than the other. “I told you, they’re probably both still asleep,” the older of the two said.

“I still wanna check!” the younger replied, and the door to the room opened a crack. Lil’ T poked his head in, and his face immediately lit up when he saw that the green hedgehog was in fact awake. “Scourge!” he cheered, rushing into the room and leaping onto the bed without hesitation. He landed in Scourge’s lap and wrapped his arms around him as the hedgehog hissed in pain.

“Ow, ow, ow…” he moaned as the small fox took the hint and let go of him. “Easy there kid, I kind of hurt all over,” he said with a toothy smile.

The child muttered an apology while his older self walked into the room. “Welcome back to the world of the living,” the older Tails said. “How’re you feeling?”

“Like crap,” Scourge answered, rubbing at one of his eyes. “I’ll get over it. How long have I been out?”

“Two… almost three days.”

“Damn,” the hedgehog shook his head. “Kinda what I was expecting, but that’s still a while.” He scratched the back of his head, rustling up his spines. He probably had some serious bedhead going on. “So I take it everyone’s still alive after that whole shebang?”

“Yep,” the older Tails sighed, looking sort of bummed. “The younger Sonic had to get his rib patched up, but he was out of the hospital within a day. He’s back in the workshop, resting. Zonic’s back to normal, too, though he kept those scars on his leg. The only one who hasn’t woken up yet is Sonic.” His eyes drifted to the blue hedgehog across the room, who hadn’t moved an inch. Sonic took light, shallow breaths, but that was the only real indicator that he was still alive.

Scourge tried to smile. “Ahh, he’ll be fine. I’ve given him harder beatings than this anyway, he always bounces back. Whether I want him to or not.”

“Yeah. It’s just… this has never happened before. He’s always okay coming out of a transformation. I can’t help but be worried,” the fox said, his namesakes twitching slightly. “Knuckles said he wanted to come by tomorrow, check Sonic out for himself. Sonic  _ did _ get knocked out after being Hyper, after all… It’s not something that happens everyday.”

The green one saw the concerned look on Tails’s face, feeling bad. “Figures. You hero-types are all worry worts,” he snickered, trying to lighten up the mood. He got the older fox to successfully smile, and Lil’ T giggled from his curled-up position in the bed next to him. “So. I’ve been out for nearly three days. What’s been goin’ on? Fill me in.”

“Well, we’re all just kind of resting right now. Except Zonic, of course,” the fox said, his smile widening. “Y’know, he’s quieter and calmer than you or Sonic, but I swear, he has no idea how to take a break and relax. He got right back to work as soon as we got back here. Helping get the people who were evacuated back into their homes, writing up an apparently  _ massive _ report for his boss, helping with PR… Dude’s got his work cut out for him.”

“Just the way he likes it,” the hedgehog rolled his eyes softly. “Y’think the guy would take a vacation or something… He  _ was _ just a thirteen-year-old after all. So when’d he turn back?”

“He was actually back to normal after you defeated the Time Eater, but I guess you didn’t notice.”

“I was kind of consumed entirely by pain at the moment, so yes, it managed to slip my notice,” the Moebian said tiredly.

The younger fox seated on the bed with him nudged his knee, grabbing his attention. “I know something else you didn’t notice! C’mon, guess, guess,” he asked, opening his eyes as wide as they would go, showing off his new bright blue irises.

Scourge squinted his eyes and inspected the kit intensely, acting as if he hadn’t noticed his eyes immediately. “Hmm…” he tapped a finger thoughtfully against his chin. “You got a haircut.”

Lil’ T giggled, a big smile on his face. “No,” he said.

“Okay, uhh… Ya grew an extra tail.”

“No!” the child laughed harder, giving Scourge a gentle shove. “My eyes turned blue! Like older me’s!”

“What? Oh hey, would’ja look at that!” the hedgehog said, smiling lightheartedly. He rustled the bangs on the kit’s head. “How’d that happen? Did Sonic’s eyes turn green, too?”

“Yep,” the child’s older-self said. “We think it was because of all the Time and Chaos energy going wild back there. Everyone’s eyes change from black to another color at some point naturally, but ours were sort of… activated before they normally would have.”

“Yeah!” Lil’ T nodded excitedly. “Hey, your eyes are blue too, Scourge. We match!”

“Huh. You’re right, we do.”

“Y’know, your eyes have changed, too,” the small fox said, looking up into the hedgehog’s eyes. Scourge and the older Tails glanced at each other before looking back at Lil’ T.

“Whaddaya mean, kid?” the green one asked, really unsure what his small friend meant.

“Well, they’ve been blue this whole time, but they used to be like… like an icy blue. But now they’re sunny, like the sky outside!” he beamed. His answer caught Scourge off guard, and the hedgehog stopped and thought about it for a moment before he laughed.

“They are, huh? Well, I guess I can live with that.”

Their conversation was put on hold when there was a knock on the door, followed by a hospital nurse entering. “Oh, you’re awake!” she exclaimed upon Scourge sitting up, with Lil’ T sitting in his lap. “Sorry boys, but would you mind stepping outside while I check his vitals? I just need to make sure you’re alright. You were out for quite a while, Mr. Scourge.”

“ _ Mr.  _ Scourge, eh?” the green hedgehog quipped. “In that case, you can check more than just my vitals, babe-- OW,” he grunted, receiving a  _ biff _ to the back of the head from the older Tails.

“Behave yourself,” the fox rolled his eyes at him. “Awake for five minutes and already causing trouble… Sorry ma’am, we’ll get out of your hair. C’mon Lil’ T, let’s go.”

The smaller child whined as his older-self hoisted him up. “But I wanna stay!”

“Scourge still needs rest, and he can’t get that if you keep bugging him. We’ll come back later tonight, yeah?” the vulpine said, looking to Scourge for confirmation.

The Moebian nodded, trying not to jostle his head too much. Tails might’ve shaken something loose. He raised a hand to lazily wave them goodbye. “See ya,” he said, feeling a little more tired that he had a second ago. 

The nurse’s visit came and went relatively quickly. Scourge hadn’t gotten hurt much during the fight, after all. He was just suffering the after effects of being Super, and he knew from experience that those would wear off with time. For the time being, he was just very tired, and very sore. The nurse checked his vitals, gave him some medication to help with the pain, and that was that.

The green hedgehog sighed, lying back down fully. His back protested the movement, but his sore muscles soon relaxed in the new position. He groaned, closing his eyes. The nurse had given him painkillers, but he still hurt all over. “Dammit,” he whispered to himself. He turned his head to look at Sonic, still solidly unconscious.  _ ‘At least I woke up,’ _ he thought.  _ ‘Three days is a long time to be out of it. Granted, we both did some pretty crazy shit, but…’ _ He couldn’t help but feel a little bit worried about his counterpart, who lay there unmoving.  _ ‘Still can’t believe he fixed the whole time stream all by himself. Show-off… Or at least, enough of it that it was able to stitch itself back together. I get the feeling that the fabric of time pretty heavily resists ripping in the first place.’ _ He looked up at the plain white ceiling, taking his eyes off Sonic. It wasn’t easy to see a guy that strong be so hurt. Not too long ago, he would’ve loved to put the blue hero in a coma. But now…

Scourge felt a chill go up his spine as he recalled his nightmares. Now, the idea of hurting Sonic and the others severely freaked him out. Now he actually cared about them, wanted to protect them from getting hurt. He always saw friends as just liabilities, but now that he actually  _ had _ them, it was definitely something more than that.

“S’pose I should be thanking you, Blue,” he said softly. “I dunno if I even deserved all those second chances you gave me, but ya gave ‘em to me anyway. That was either really smart or really stupid, but I’m glad you did it.”

The green hedgehog huffed. Part of him wondered what could come next for him. The last few days (that he was awake for, anyway) had been so frantic, it was hard to just take it slow and  _ not _ think ahead. But he had no idea. No immediate goals, no place to stay, and a homeworld he didn’t want to live on anymore. If it weren’t for the hospital bed underneath him, he’d feel completely lost. At least he knew he could rest here on Mobius for a few days.  _ ‘Unless the Zone Cops come and drag me back to prison. That’s a possibility too, I guess. I saved the world, but I also tried to conquer it once or twice. That’s not somethin’ you just forgive that easily.’ _ He closed his eyes. He didn’t want to think about it. The Zone Cops weren’t that cruel, and he had Zonic on his side. At the very least, he’d be able to stick around on Mobius Prime until he felt better. Whatever happened after that… He’d cross that bridge when he came to it. But if he had a choice, he’d pick being a hero over being in Zone Jail any day.

He didn’t want to fall asleep, still nervous about having another nightmare. He hadn’t had one since that last night on Moebius, but still. Unfortunately, lying down in a semi-comfortable bed with his eyes closed and his system pumped full of drugs was a recipe for a snooze that he couldn’t resist.

Luckily for him, his mind was too tired to dream, though his sleep still didn’t feel particularly restful. He didn’t stir until later that night, vaguely aware of sounds in the room. Someone was in there with him, speaking quietly.

“Yeah, I know, Zector. I’m gonna stick around here for the night. Tell Zlaze I’ll have that report done by the morning… Yes, I’m sure I’m fine. You guys really worry about me too much. Yeah… Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow, man. Yeah. Bye,” Zonic said, hanging up the phone. He yawned, stuffing his cell phone back in his pocket.

“Workin’ hard, Cap?” Scourge asked, his voice hoarse. He rubbed his eyes open, despite his arms not wanting to move.

“Oh, hey,” the Zone Cop said, standing up. He’d been sitting in a chair against the opposite wall. He was back to his normal, twenty-year-old self, and out of uniform. “Sorry, I wake you up?”

The green one shrugged. “No big deal. I’ve been sleepin’ for three days, I don’t need anymore sleep,” he chuckled tiredly. “What time is it?”

“Uh, eleven-ish? It’s pretty late. The Tailses dropped by a few hours ago, but you were asleep.”

“Didn’t think hospitals were this lenient about visiting hours,” Scourge smirked. “How’d you get in here this late, you cashin’ in yer hero points?”

Zonic coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Kinda just… ‘ported right in here. I’m tired, didn’t feel like dealing with people.”

“Oh snaaap, officer straight-and-narrow breakin’ the rules? Just to see lil’ ol’ me? I’m flattered.”

“Well, I’d heard you’d woken up, wanted to check and see for myself if you were doing okay. You  _ did _ save our lives, after all. Plus…”

Scourge rolled his eyes. “Okay, why’re you  _ really _ here then?”

“We need to talk,” Zonic said, his hands in the pockets of his jeans. His expression turned slightly more serious.

Scourge feigned a horrified gasp. “You’re  _ breaking up with me?” _

The cop groaned. “About what’s gonna happen to you after all this. About Zone Jail.”

The injured one’s expression sobered up quite fast after that. “So… what’s goin’ on with that?”

The No-Zoner sighed and took a seat on the edge of the bed. “Zlaze is on the fence. Given that she hasn’t stationed any guards outside this room and you aren’t wearing an inhibitor collar right now, I’d say she’s closer to swaying to our side. She just needs a little more convincing to let you go free.”

“And you think you can convince her?”

“I hope so. You’ve got a pretty good case in your favor, though.”

“What case?” Scourge groaned as he dragged a hand down his face. “I conquered my planet, and tried to do the same to Mobius. I helped save the day  _ once, _ and that should just magically make up for the years of shit I’ve done?”

“Green, we saved literally  _ everyone _ in the entire multiverse, past, present, and future. That’s  _ huge. _ Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Zonic said, offering up a smile. “Don’t sweat it, okay? Everything’ll be fine. It’ll all work out.”

The green one sighed. “I’ll believe it when it happens,” he said dejectedly, sinking back into his bed.

“I know you’re worried,” the No Zoner said, his shoulders drooping a bit. “Just try to focus on feeling better. I’ll handle the Chief.”

“Ain’t there anything you can do to help me feel better? Mr. Healer?”

“Actually…” Zonic crossed one arm across his chest and used the other hand to rub his neck. He sounded bummed. “I can’t do that stuff anymore. Not since I turned back.”

“Woah, what?” Green’s eyes opened wide. “What’re you talkin’ about?”

“Whatever Nega did to me that took away my speed in the first place... kicked back in once I aged up again. And apparently, that includes any and all Chaos powers. No more running, no more healing, no more nothing.”

“Aw man… that sucks ass, dude. That’s not fair!”

“Yep. I’m back to normal. In every sense of the word.”

“Dude, you stand sideways and take down interdimensional criminals. You were  _ never _ normal,” Scourge smirked. Zonic rolled his eyes, but still looked disappointed with the situation. “Look,” the Moebian said, looking away. “You don’t need that stuff. You’ve taken me down without powers before, no problem. It sucks that you can’t run anymore, but you ain’t the Zone Cops’ star officer for nothin’.” He saw the cop smile out of the corner of his eye. “And don’t tell nobody I said that!”

Zonic laughed. “C’mon man, you say something nice about me, and I’m not even allowed to brag about it? Now  _ that’s  _ unfair.”

“Hey, gotta protect what’s left of my rep. Nothin’ personal.”

The two continued chatting for a while, catching up on the last few days and recounting the fight with the Time Eater. Zonic had apparently been bragging to anyone who would listen at the station that he’d gone Super, something that no No Zoner had ever done before. Even if he couldn’t run or use any powers anymore, he was still excited to gush about the brief time in which he could. Scourge remarked how he enjoyed this Super transformation more than his last one-- something about the Chaos Emeralds just felt better than Anarchy Beryl.

“Maybe that’s just the multiverse’s way of telling you you belong on Mobius after all,” Zonic joked. The green one laughed and nodded, while simultaneously feeling like Z could have a good point there.

“So… if I did stay on Mobius. How would that work? You Zone Cops get your panties in a bunch with every little zone hop, after all,” he asked, entertaining the idea.

Zonic shrugged. “You’d need a Zone Visa. The Zone Cops haven’t handed one of those out in  _ ages, _ and it would be a mountain of paperwork, but it can be done,” he said, before suddenly groaning. “Ugh, speaking of paperwork… I gotta finish that report. Given how insane this whole time has been, Zlaze wants all the details. Kill me now.”

“Oh, don’t tempt me,” Scourge laughed. “Guess I’ll see you later, then?”

“Yeah. I’m spending the night at the workshop, No Zone is a little too hectic for me right now. Can’t wait til all this blows over so I can get a break. A short one, at least.” The Zone Cop stood up from his seat on the edge of the bed, readjusting his jeans and shirt. “Feel better, alright?”

“Yeah. Thanks, man.”

A few moments later, Zonic had portal’d away, and Scourge had closed his eyes and let his head sink into his pillow. But no matter what Z had said in an attempt to calm his nerves, images of Zone Jail were now fresh in his mind. His heart was beating in his throat, his gut felt cold, and he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. He pulled the thin hospital sheets up over his arms and up to his neck, as if the blanket could protect him from Smalls, the prison guards, or anyone else who might come for him in the dead of night.  _ ‘I’m not going back,’ _ he repeated to himself until he fell asleep, muscles tense.  _ ‘I’m not going back.’ _

ooo

Sonic finally woke up the next morning, his mind filled with cotton. Every bit of his body, from his eyelids to the tips of his toes, felt so heavy and solid that he could barely move them. His mouth tasted like something had died in there, and even the softest of noises sounded as loud as a jackhammer. But the most distressing thing the hedgehog felt was a gut-wrenching emptiness, like something was missing. His limbs were definitely all still there, and all very sore. He couldn’t quite put a finger on what the empty feeling was, but he knew he didn’t like it.

His ears twitched, listening to his surroundings before he could gather the strength to open his eyes. He heard a steady beeping pounding through his head. A heart monitor, he was sure. He was in a hospital, big surprise. Someone in the room was snoring, fast asleep. Zonic or Scourge, he guessed. He had a feeling his dimensional brothers snored as much as he did.

Sonic tentatively opened his eyes, the bright light painful and groan inducing. He squeezed them shut again, his whole body shifting with discomfort. He’d almost prefer being unconscious again.

“Sonic?” he heard, followed by a shuffling, and then footsteps. The hedgehog dared peek open his eyes once more, seeing a blurry yellow-orange shape that could only be Tails-  _ his _ Tails- leaning over him. He winked at the fox, moving just enough to convey that he was awake and cognizant. Tails, to put it lightly, flipped a shit. The grin that split across his face was a mile wide. He wanted to just jump onto Sonic and hug him, but he had to settle with just grabbing his brother’s hand and holding on tight; almost like if he let go, Sonic would fall back into his comatose state. “I’m… I’m really glad you’re okay,” Tails said, his voice hushed.

Sonic smiled, opening his eyes a little bit wider. “H-hey, pal,” he choked out, coughing at the effort. His mouth was uncooperative, the syllables feeling fuzzy as they passed through his lips. He vaguely noticed a slip in Tails’s expression, something catching the fox off guard. “... ’Sup?” the hedgehog asked.

“Your eyes,” Tails said, brow scrunched up. “They’re black, like when you were little.”

“W-what?” Sonic wheezed, his eyes opening a little wider. True enough, his irises were a hard, charcoal black, showing no trace of their normal green.

A sudden gasp broke through the otherwise quiet room, the relative peace broken as the sound of snoring abruptly stopped. Scourge shot up to a sitting position in the other bed, shaky and rapid breaths wracking his system.

“Woah!” Tails quickly turned to face him. “Scourge, you okay?”

“Huh? Tails?” Scourge blinked, starting to calm down a little as he realized where he was. “I, uh… Yeah. Yeah, I’m good. Just need a second.” The green hedgehog looked shaken up, but otherwise not too bad. It was possible that the nightmare he had woken up from hadn’t been too bad. Or at least, not as bad as some of his other ones. He held his head in his hands, trying to steady his breathing.

“Take your time,” the fox said. “Sonic just woke up, so--”

“Huh, ‘bout time,” Scourge scoffed. “Welcome back to the land of the living.” He didn’t lift his head up, speaking the words quietly to his lap.

“...Anyway,” Tails huffed, turning his attention back to Sonic. Scourge still needed some time to cool off. “How’re you feeling, bro?”

Sonic held out his hand flat and tilted it back and forth, the universal symbol for “so-so.” He would live, but he sure wasn’t doing great.

Tails shrugged. “I guess that’s to be expected, you did take a beating. You were asleep for… this was the fourth day. That’s quite a while.”

“How’re the others?” Sonic asked, his voice still raspy.

“Good. Little you’s got a busted rib, but he’s all patched up and resting back at the workshop. Everyone else is doing okay. Zonic’s back to his older self, and... unfortunately that seems to include his lack of powers,” the fox relayed with a sigh.

The blue hedgehog frowned slightly, closing his eyes. “Had a feeling that might happen,” he said. Still, at least all of his friends were okay. Everyone was alive, and it seemed like the multiverse was safe and sound. “I’m jus’ glad everything’s back t’normal,” he slurred a little bit. He opened his mouth wide and stuck his tongue out. “Blaaah, Chaos…”

Scourge lifted his head up and rubbed his eyes, feeling better from his dream. “Dammit,” he grunted quietly. “So fuckin’ tired ‘a those… Yo Tails, any news from Z?”

“Nope. He left the workshop to go to work before I woke up, and it’s still kind of early for him to call…” Tails noticed Scourge’s ears and quills droop as the hedgehog tilted his face back down towards the bed. “Hey, don’t worry. Z’ll let us know as soon as he hears anything, and he’s trying his hardest to make sure the only news will be good news. You won’t be going back to Zone Jail while he’s on the case.”

Sonic subtly nodded. “Zone Jail? That still up for debate…? I doubt the Zone Cops are that heartless. You turned a new leaf, after all.”

“Right?!” Scourge’s voice raised, and he turned so that his feet were dangling off the bed. His body felt a lot less sore than it did yesterday, allowing him more movement. “I turned the  _ shit _ outta that leaf…”

Tails quirked the corner of his lip into a half-grin. “Will seeing little me make you feel better?”

“Gods Tails, you make me sound so clingy,” the green hedgehog laughed.

The fox shrugged. “Well, he and Knuckles are downstairs in the cafeteria. Knuckles wanted to check on Sonic anyway, and now that Sonic’s woken up, they’ll wanna get in here to see him.”

“Ugh, Red?” Scourge slouched, not looking forward to meeting the echidna. “How much you wanna bet that douche still wants to bash my skull in for hijacking the Master Emerald’s energy that one time?”

“Thousand rings,” Tails answered.

“Two thousand,” Sonic quietly added.

The flat look Scourge sent them could’ve killed a man. “I hate you both.”

ooo

“I can’t deny it. Scourge has definitely changed,” Chief Zlaze said, arms crossed as she observed the Prime Zone monitor. She and Zonic were in Zonic’s monitoring station, a wall of Sonics before them. The hedgehog had just handed in his report, which eventually segued into a conversation about the Moebian’s future. “And as much as I hate to admit it, you have a point. I doubt sending him back to Zone Jail will accomplish anything.”

“I’m glad you agree, Chief,” Zonic said, a hint of a smile forming on his lips. He didn’t want to get ahead of himself. “I’ve also heard that the Warden is pleased with his progress, and is willing to let Scourge go. Right?”

“Yes, and ultimately his opinion matters more than mine does on this particular matter,” the cat frowned. “As much as I still don’t trust Scourge, he’s free to go back to Moebius.”

Zonic’s small grin faded again. “...Just Moebius?” he asked, almost hesitant. “Chief, are you sure that’s a good idea?”

The Chief’s eyes narrowed, disliking that her decision was being questioned. “What do you mean?” she asked sharply, clearly not in the mood for negotiation.

Zonic mentally cursed himself for bringing it up. The point had to be made, but he was not looking forward to bargaining with Zlaze like this. “Scourge hates his homeworld,” he said, his tone serious. “There’s nothing there for him anymore. Taking him out of one place where he’s hated, and just putting him somewhere  _ else _ where he’s hated won’t do anything for him! He has friends on Mobius Prime, let him stay there.”

Zlaze looked at him as if he just grew a second head. “Permanently? Are you  _ crazy?  _ We can’t have two Sonics living on the same world!”

“Oh, but it’s okay to have Scourge in Zone Jail, locked up, right? Because that’s  _ totally _ a different scenario.”

She glared at him, because  _ dammit  _ that was a good point he just made. “You know what I mean,” she growled. “Having him out and about, interacting in Mobius Prime’s society, it  _ can’t happen.” _

Zonic crossed his arms and raised an eyeridge. “Why?” He asked, in much the same tone a child would use. He was getting sassy-- either this would pay off, or he’d get in some serious trouble.

“Each world needs its own Sonic!”

“Why?” Zonic asked again, pushing his luck straight off a cliff.

Zlaze was getting annoyed. “Don’t be childish, Zonic,” she practically spat.

“With all due respect ma’am,” the hedgehog said matter-of-factly, “I’ve spent the last week and a half as a middle schooler. I think I’m entitled to be a little childish. So I’ll repeat the question:  _ Why?” _

Zlaze swiped her datapad off of Zonic’s desk, handling the device forcefully. “It goes against Zone Law,” she hissed, punctuating each of her words. She turned towards the door, fully intending to leave the conversation at that.

Zonic followed her, not letting himself get cut off like that. “Maybe it’s time the laws were changed, then.”

The Chief walked right out of the room, Zonic hot on her heels. “They’re in place for a reason,” she said, not even glancing up at him.

“What reason?” Zonic demanded as the two continued arguing down the hallway, drawing the attention of all the other Zone Cops they passed. The outsiders’ attention wasn’t held for long, though-- Zonic and Zlaze were always at each other's throats, so this was nothing new. 

“To keep everything from falling apart, that’s what!”

“Do you mean the fabric of time and space? Because guess what, that  _ was _ falling apart. And we fixed it! And we can do it again! What the hell could fall apart so terribly that we couldn’t rebuild or fix it?”

“The order of everything in the damn universe, hedgehog!” Zlaze shouted, getting suspiciously close to wanting to throw her datapad through Zonic’s head. “Dimensions aren’t supposed to cross, or merge, or interact. Everyone and everything has its place. Zone Cops are supposed to keep  _ order _ throughout the multiverse!”

“We’re supposed to  _ protect _ the multiverse!!” Zonic yelled back at her, hands clenched tightly into fists. “Not impose judgement on what should go where, or who should do what! There’s order, and then there’s shoving people into defined little boxes and categories, taking away their free will!”

Zlaze stopped dead in her tracks and whirled around to face Zonic, all in one swift movement. “What the  _ hell _ has gotten into you, Captain?!”

“I dunno,” the hedgehog said, calming his voice before they escalated into a full-blown shouting match. “Maybe some of Sonic’s freedom-loving attitude rubbed off on me.” He stared her down as a sea of Zone Cops parted around them, utterly disinterested in their argument.

“This is  _ exactly _ what I’m talking about. When people from all different dimensions come together, timelines are irreparably altered. It makes a mess of everything! Removing dangerous criminals from a world to maintain peace is one thing, but--”

“But working together with people from other worlds to maintain peace is different entirely?” Zonic interrupted her. “Why the hell does everything have to be separate, Zlaze? I mean, sure, the Cosmic Highway is a wreck, and No Zone is nowhere near equipped to handle the amount of traffic that would happen if all those gates were opened up. But from a fundamental, theoretical standpoint… what would be so wrong about Scourge living on Mobius Prime if he’s happier there? If he’s less likely to return to the way he used to be?” he said, noticing the fiery rage on Zlaze’s face melt into a smoldering anger. Slightly calmer, but still mad. “Do you want the people of the multiverse to be happy, or do you want to be able to control them? Choose where they can and can’t go, who they can and can’t see?”

The cat sighed forcefully, dragging Zonic off to the side of the hallway so they weren’t right smack in the middle of the traffic. “It’s…” she started, deciding what words to use. “It’s not like that, Zonic.”

“Then what  _ is _ it like? Or is that classified information?” he said, resisting the urge to put ‘classified information’ in air quotes. “Chief, I find it hard to believe that the Zone Cops know the grand master plan behind everything in the multiverse. We don’t have a blueprint of how everything should go, we’re still figuring it out ourselves. What do we tell Scourge, that he has to live on Moebius because ‘reasons’? It’s  _ bullshit.”  _

Zlaze didn’t have a direct answer for him, perhaps realizing that he had a point. “... Why are you sticking your neck out for him?” she asked, borderline changing the subject.

The hedgehog did a one-shoulder shrug. “Hey, once you get to really know the guy, he’s not too bad. Still an asshole, but he’s capable of compassion. Plus, he… He’s not doing too hot,” he admitted, lowering his voice. “Zone Jail was really rough on him. He needs to be with his friends. Taking him back to Moebius and leaving him all alone will do more harm than good, I guarantee it.”

Zlaze sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “I can’t remember the last time something like this was allowed,” she mumbled. “The amount of paperwork would be insane.”

“...But?” Zonic led her on hopefully.

_ “But, _ if he slips up even once, breaks one single law, it’s on your head, Captain. I’m holding you responsible for him, you got that?” she said, jamming a finger into Zonic’s chest plate.

Zonic smiled. “Thanks, Chief,” he said, feeling a weight lift off his shoulders. He was looking forward to telling Scourge the good news.

Zlaze smirked. “You won’t be thanking me when you see all the forms you’re going to have to fill out. Your responsibility, remember?” she said, bringing something up on her datapad. “Only… twelve different packets that need to be filled out. In triplicate.”

Zonic’s groan was loud enough to attract the attention of every officer in the hallway.

ooo

Tails had shot Knuckles a message through his communicator (Knuckles had one on at all times-- Angel Island didn’t exactly get cellphone reception, so it was a habit he got into), and the echidna and Lil’ T made their way up to the twin hedgehogs’ hospital room within just a few minutes. Luckily for Scourge, Knuckles gave him a dirty look as he walked in, but aside from that, the echidna opted to ignore him. There were bigger fish to fry, and the Moebian wasn’t much of a threat at the moment anyway. Lil’ T was ecstatic that the older Sonic was awake, and Knuckles was incredibly curious about his new black eyes.

The younger of the foxes sat on the edge of Scourge’s bed while Knuckles leaned over Sonic, his brow furrowed and tense. “I’ve never seen this before,” Knuckles muttered. He held his hands a few inches above Sonic’s head and chest and closed his eyes. He attempted to pick up some trace of Chaos energy within Sonic, something that was not usually hard at all. The hedgehog, usually full to the brim of Chaos energy, had shockingly little running through his system. “You’re effectively running on empty. What did you  _ do,  _ exactly?” he asked, opening his eyes again.

“Um… Well, I went Hyper,” Sonic said, recalling the events of the fight. “Sort of rushed the transformation though, there was no time to change the Chaos Emeralds into Super Emeralds. But I was already Super, so I figured it wouldn’t be a huge deal, and it  _ did _ work.” He received a glare from Knuckles, as he normally did when he misused the Master Emerald. He ignored it and continued. “Then I just finished repairing the time stream, kind of using Chaos powers  _ and _ my time powers. I got it…. I’d say about 90% finished? Before I turned back to normal and passed out. Guess I fixed the time stream enough that it was able to patch itself back up, since everything around here seems to be back to normal.”

“Yeah, seems that way,” Knuckles hummed. “You’re definitely running low on power, but I doubt that’s from rushing the Hyper transformation. As much as I don’t like you doing that,” he pointed the statement with another glare, “you did what you had to, and the Master Emerald is just fine. It could be because you were a show-off and decided to heal the entire time stream by yourself.”

“Hey!” Sonic whined, wanting to cross his arms, but the limbs feeling too heavy to move properly.

The echidna gave him a dry smile. “Most likely, it was the time energy that was inside you. The Chaos energy dispelled it from your system, and vice versa. The time energy got the Chaos energy out of your system.”

“Not  _ permanently _ though, right?” the older Tails asked, standing at the foot of the bed. His hands were wrapped around the railing in a slightly awkward configuration that probably wasn’t comfortable.

“Nah, it’ll come back,” Knuckles said confidently. “His eyes’ll turn back too, It’ll just take a while, since he’s got a lot to replenish. So, Sonic, that means  _ lots _ of rest, lots of meditation, possibly at the Master Emerald if we can arrange that. And don’t be surprised if you can’t sense things that you normally would, or run for a while.”

_ “Aw, what?” _ Sonic groaned, his face contorting in frustration. “I haven’t been able to run in like,  _ a week. _ And now you’re telling me it’ll be  _ longer?  _ UUGGHHH.”

“Just be happy this isn’t permanent,” Knuckles said.

Conversation grinded to a halt as a portal suddenly opened up in the middle of the room. Everyone turned to look as Zonic stepped out of the vortex, followed by the younger Sonic, whose torso was completely bandaged up. “Hey! Good, everyone’s here,” the Zone Cop said as he assessed the room. Knuckles groaned when he saw his face.

“Oh great,  _ another _ Sonic to deal with? How many is that, four? I think this is the worst day of my life.”

Mini-Sonic scoffed. “Oh, thanks Knuckles, it’s nice to see you again, too.”

His older self chuckled. “C’mon Knux, you’ll like Zonic. He’s just as hardworking as you are. Somehow.”

“Older-me!” the smallest hedgehog smiled, just now realizing his future self was awake. Little Sonic hopped up onto his hospital bed, sitting on the edge happily.

“Glad to see you’re awake, Prime,” Zonic said. “And Knuckles Prime! Glad to finally meet you. My name’s Zonic, I’m a Zone Cop from the No Zone,” he smiled, eagerly extending a hand, which Knuckles reluctantly shook. “Anyway, uh, I brought Sonic’s past self here since I wanted everyone to be here to hear this. I’ve got news about Scourge.”

“Just spill it already!!” said the green hedgehog in question, who’d been sitting stiff as a board since the Zone Cop had walked in.

“Right! Sorry,” Zonic smiled. “I talked with Zlaze. It took some persuasion, and I probably owe her a big-time favor now, but… Scourge, you’re not going back to Zone Jail. You have permission to live on Mobius Prime.”

The small hospital room erupted into a chorus of cheers and applause, and it was a miracle that a nurse didn’t come barging in and kick them all out. Scourge felt an impossibly large weight lift from his chest.  _ He wasn’t going back to Zone Jail.  _ Hell, he didn’t even have to go back to Moebius! No more Smalls, no more anything that reminded him of his parents, no more any of that. Never again. He could live here, on Mobius Prime, where there were people who didn’t completely hate his guts. Where there were people who  _ liked  _ him.

The Time Eater was dead. He would never have to see Smalls again. Nobody here wanted him dead. He felt  _ safe. _ He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this way, but he definitely liked it.

“Z, you are somethin’ else,” the green hedgehog smiled, his heart beating excitedly in his chest. “Yer the best cop an ex-con could have.”

Zonic laughed, his grin just as wide as Scourge’s. “You’re welcome, you’ve earned it. As long as you don’t go causing trouble, Chief Zlaze won’t have any reason to bother you-- or me, for that matter.”

“Yeah, yeah, I hear ya,” Scourge said. “Wait. What’s the legal drinkin’ age ‘round here?”

“Eighteen,” the older Tails answered.

“Phew! Okay then, we’re good, I’ll be fine,” the green one laughed.

Lil’ T suddenly looked terrified. “You gotta be eighteen to drink stuff?! But I’ve been drinkin’ things my whole life!!” he shrieked. His big brother laughed.

“Tails,” the younger Sonic said, “they’re talking about alcohol. You’re not gonna get arrested for drinking juice.”

“Ooohhh,” the young child said, nodding. “That’s good. ‘Cause I’m real thirsty an’ I don’t think I could wait that long.”

Everyone laughed, except for Knuckles, who seemed to be distracted by something. He’d been eyeing Zonic up and down the whole time, trying to figure something out. The Zone Cop was another version of Sonic alright-- looked like him, sounded like him… acted differently, but that was to be expected. What was puzzling about him was that he seemed to be giving off way less Chaos energy than Sonic usually did. But… it also wasn’t like he just didn’t have much energy within him. There was  _ something _ in him, but it was acting very… quietly, was the only word he could think of at the moment.

He took a few steps closer to Zonic, and the cop turned his head. “Sorry,” Knuckles said. “There’s something weird about the Chaos energy in you, and I just can’t put my finger on it.”

“Oh, yeah,” Zonic nodded. “Something happened to me when I was a kid. Made it so I can’t run anymore. That’s probably what it is.”

The echidna stared at him wide-eyed. “You and I are gonna have to have a talk about that. Because I thought I’d seen everything when it comes to Chaos energy, but after today, I apparently haven’t.”

“Oh! Uh, yeah, sure!” the Zone Cop beamed. “I’d love to, but it’ll have to wait. I gotta head back to the station, I still have a ton of work I gotta get done.”

Knuckles nodded. “Another time, then,” he said, starting to warm up to the officer. He respected the guy’s work ethic, at the very least. He could relate to it.

Zonic set a hand on his belt, ready to leave again. “Of course. See you all later, guys!” He did a short wave goodbye as a bright orange portal opened around him. Everyone said goodbye as it closed, and the Zone Cop disappeared.

Knuckles smirked. “Y’know Sonic, I think I like him more than you.” Sonic  _ hmph _ ed.

“Yeah, you would,” the hedgehog rolled his eyes. He turned his attention to his younger self, currently seated on the edge of the bed. “Hey,  _ there’s _ where my green eyes went,” he smirked, noting the kid’s emerald green irises. “Looks good on you, man.”

“Thanks,” the kid said with a smile. “How’re you holding up?”

“Fine, fine, just need a ton of rest and I’ll be good as new,” Sonic said, tired of talking about himself. “You?”

The younger Sonic stretched uncomfortably, holding a hand gently to his side. “Fractured rib. Luckily we still have all the Chaos Emeralds, so it’s healing a lot faster than it normally would. Still a pain in the butt though, and Tails and I can’t go home to our own time until I’m completely healed. Gotta make sure we go back in the same shape we arrived. Minus the whole eye color thing, of course.”

“Oh, naturally. Gotta say, I got used to having you two around. Kinda forgot you had to leave at some point.”

“Yeah… I kinda got used to it, too,” said the small hedgehog. “As much as it might feel like it, this isn’t our home. Not yet, anyway. We gotta head home at some point.”

Lil’ T bounced on the edge of Scourge’s bed. “Yup! I can’t wait to tell our Knuckles about everything that happened!” he said excitedly, while starting to count on his fingers all the interesting things that happened in the past two weeks. He quickly ran out of fingers.

“Yeah, speaking of me,” Knuckles said, stretching his arms behind his head, “I think I’ll take my leave. Just being in this room has filled my Sonic quota for the next… month, maybe month and a half. I need to take a nap, maybe punch something.”

“I feel so flattered,” the three hedgehogs said, all equally deadpan.

“Yeah, that’s it. Leaving now,” Knuckles groaned as he turned toward the door. “Call me when you’re out of the hospital, Blue,” he said before swiftly walking out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him.

Little Sonic smiled. “Pissing Knuckles off never gets old.”

“Agreed,” his older-self confirmed.

 

ooo

 

The next few days were very… well, restful. Sonic and Scourge were released from the hospital the following morning, both healthy but in need of more bedrest. Scourge was well enough that he could walk around without much protest, but Sonic was still incredibly sore--  _ especially _ his legs, which were used to being filled with Chaos energy-- so he was grumpily stuck in a wheelchair for the time being, only able to stand for short periods of time. The two hedgehogs were happy to return to the workshop, if only to escape the stifling environment of the hospital. The blindingly white walls and the sterile smell was something they could both agree on disliking.

Scourge stole one of Sonic’s old hoodies almost as soon as they got back to the workshop. Really, Sonic let him have it since the Moebian’s leather jacket got torn to shreds in the Time Eater fight, but Scourge liked to think that he stole it. It was simple and black, with a ring insignia on the chest; not as ‘bad to the bone’ as his old jacket, but it got the job done.

The three hedgehogs in the house slept a lot, trying to more quickly shake off their injuries. Tails kept Lil’ T busy, the two of them tinkering in the basement lab when they weren’t helping the Sonics and Scourge. Zonic stopped by in the evenings after his shift, bringing stacks of papers for Scourge to help him fill out. With two of them working, it wasn’t as much of a chore, and they took the opportunity to joke around with each other when they got bored of filling out forms. All in all, the residents of the workshop, both permanent and temporary, fell into a sort of rhythm, which was a nice change of pace from how hectic things had been just a week prior.

But of course, not all rhythms last forever. After a few days with the Chaos Emeralds, the young Sonic’s rib was healed. Still a little sore, but nothing anyone in the past would question. The rag-tag group of six assembled in the living room of the workshop that evening, the setting sun outside casting the room in a bright, orange hue. Scourge and the younger Sonic, the only two able to use the Chaos Emeralds at the moment, used Chaos Control with the seven Emeralds, along with Zonic’s belt; they needed its help to pinpoint the exact location the kids needed to go to and to help with opening a portal. It took a few tries, but they eventually got it. Instead of Zonic’s normally orange Zone portals, and the Time Eater’s purple portals, this one was a bright green color, warm like spring leaves. Through the other side they could see Green Hill Zone as it was eight years ago, just the way the kids had left it. The younger Sonic felt something catch in his throat. He turned to face the others, a somber smile on his face.

“So… I guess this is it,” he said, handing the Emeralds he held off to his older self. “It’s time for us to go.”

Lil’ T clutched the hedgehog’s now-free hand, holding it like a lifeline. “But... “ he whimpered, big blue eyes looking up at everyone else. “But Sonic, I don’t wanna go…”

“I know, bud. I don’t wanna go either,” he said with a sigh. “But we gotta get back to our own time. Robotnik’s not gonna defeat himself, is he? And who’s gonna annoy Knuckles if we’re not there?”

“Yeah…” the fox said, sniffling lightly. He loosened his grip on his brother’s hand, and instead gravitated toward the older fox. “Bye, older me,” he said quietly, before getting swept up in a hug from the older Tails.

“Oooh, I’m! Gonna! Miss! You!” Tails said, holding Lil’ T tight, swinging him around with every word. Lil’ T giggled, hugging him back. “You are a  _ great _ lab assistant, and my basement will be sorely lacking without you. Try and keep little Sonic out of trouble, alright?”

The child nodded as he was put down, and then moved on to wrapping his arms around the older Sonic. “Bye, older big bro!”

“Bye, Lil’ T!  _ Don’t listen to Tails, I don’t get into trouble,”  _ he whispered. The older Tails snorted.

Lil’ T hugged Zonic next, the Zone Cop rustling his bangs with a sad smile on his face. “You’re a good kid, Tails. You two be careful, alright?”

“Hehe, okay Z,” he said. There was only one person left to say goodbye to… The small fox turned to Scourge, stepping over to him slowly. “I’m… I’m gonna miss you, Scourge,” the kid said, his voice starting to catch. “You’re a really cool guy, and y-you’re a good friend, and…”

Scourge entered panic mode. He was seeing wobbly, wet eyes, a trembling lip… Was Lil’ T about to cry? “Oh no, no no no, hey, c’mon,” the hedgehog said, kneeling down in front of him. “Don’t you start cryin’ kid, not over me, I’m not worth--” but he was cut short by Tails wrapping his arms around him, burying his face in his shoulder. Scourge froze for a second, processing what was happening--  _ ‘he’s hugging me, this has never happened before what do I do’ _ \-- before embracing him, pulling him close and cradling the small form in his arms. “I’m gonna miss you too, kiddo,” he said softly. Tails didn’t make a sound, but hugged him tighter. They held each other for a bit before they eventually broke away. The child’s smiling face was stained with tears, which Scourge wiped away with his thumb. “It’s okay, kid. You’ll see me again. Although, I won’t exactly be the nicest guy… Uh, sorry in advance for beating you guys up a few times,” he said, looking at Mini-Sonic now, too.

“Eh, don’t sweat it,” the small hedgehog grinned. “We can handle you, no problem.”

His older self wrapped an arm around Mini-Sonic’s shoulder, squeezing him a little bit. “That’s what I like to hear!” he cheered. “‘Sides, this isn’t really goodbye, is it? You two will see all of us again, and, well, I’m you! And Tails is Lil’ T! You guys are still inside us. Buried somewhere, under years of experience. Cynicism. Changing world-views.”

“Chili dogs,” the twelve-year-old added, nudging his future-self in the stomach.

“And chili dogs,” the older Sonic nodded. “Anything else?”

“Uhh, lame one-liners, a massive ego…” he continued before getting elbowed in the arm by his future self. “Aw, come on, you know you’ll miss me, Gramps.”

“Yeah, I  _ guess,”  _ the older Sonic joked. His kid-self glared at him, and he rolled his eyes. “Okay, fine. I’m proud of you, little Blue. I’ll miss you. Even if you keep insisting that I’m old.”

Zonic smiled as he got one last round of high-fives from the Littles. “Yeah, you guys’ll see me and Scourge soon. Probably two, three years?”

“Sounds about right,” Scourge nodded, getting back to his feet. “I was still blue back then, though. And I wore  _ leather boots  _ in  _ addition _ to the leather jacket _ , _ and had really cheesy sunglasses. I looked like a freakin’ greaser. So beat the tar outta past-me, okay? He deserves it, stupid jerk.”

“Aye aye!” Lil’ T exclaimed, holding his hand up to his forehead in a salute. “Oh, I almost forgot something!” He reached into his twin namesakes to pull out something gold and shiny. He handed it to Zonic, looking relieved that he remembered it. “It’s your badge! Remember, you gave it to me to hold onto when we were in Scourge’s house,” he said, tracing the insignia once more with his finger.

“Oh crap, yeah! Can’t believe I almost forgot about that,” the Zone Cop laughed. “Thanks for holding onto it for me! You kept it nice and safe, there’s not a single scratch on it. Good job!” He pat the sniffly fox on the back, and the kid beamed proudly.

“That portal’s gonna close soon,” the older Tails pointed out, holding out his hands and got high-fives from the kids. “You guys ready to go?”

The young Sonic and Tails looked at each other once, and nodded. The ending was bittersweet, but it had to come sooner or later. “We’re ready,” they both said.

“Alright!” the older Sonic said, clapping them both on the back and directing them to the portal that was in front of the fireplace. Green Hill could be seen through the portal, and the kids’ eyes brightened at the sight of home. The two held hands. “If you two ever get lost in time and space again, you know where to find us,” Sonic said, waving goodbye.

“Have fun with all the adventures in store for you!” Tails said. “I know I did!”

“It was fun getting to know you two,” Zonic smiled warmly. “We’ll miss you!”

“Yeah, what he said!” Scourge waved, trying not to look too upset. Lil’ T was his first friend, and now he was leaving. But things would be okay, he was sure of it.

The young Sonic and Tails waved, saying goodbye over and over until they disappeared through the portal. The gateway closed. And then they were gone.

The four remaining stood there quietly. They’d done it. They had saved the world-- no, the multiverse, and all of time and space, and they sent the two kids back home. No one had really wanted to see them go, but it had to happen.

“Hey,” Tails said, prompting everyone to turn and face him. He was looking at Scourge specifically. The fox’s arms were outstretched, and he wore a smile that was somehow both sarcastic and sincere. “Miss me?”

Scourge closed his eyes and laughed, taking a second to make the connection--  _ Tails was Lil’ T, just grown up _ . “You… cheeky little piece of shit,”

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Tails said, hugging the hedgehog, who had gone stiff. “I’m still Lil’ T, y’know. Just older. I’m still your friend.”

“I-I know,” Scourge choked. His voice cracked, to everyone’s surprise. He tensed up, his hands reflexively coming up from his sides and naturally finding their way around Tails’s shoulders from there. “Kid…” Something inside his chest felt heavy and thick as the hedgehog suppressed a sob. He… he had  _ friends, _ people who he could actually trust. He felt  _ safe, _ he felt like he could  _ belong _ somewhere. It was overwhelming, in the best way possible. These were things he had previously thought that he could never even want, let alone  _ hope _ to obtain. He had always felt alone, and he accepted that. But he wasn’t alone anymore, and he could definitely say he prefered having friends to having no one. The heaviness in his chest was demanding to be released, and the Moebian choked out a sob. He held Tails close as his eyes became wet and his face grew hot.  _ ‘Shit, no, c’mon Scourge, don’t cry. Fuckin’ wuss… Gonna bawl your eyes out in front of the guys, like a goddamn baby…’ _ He sniffed and tried to compose himself, but he choked and sputtered, tears leaking from his eyes.

Sonic suddenly joined Scourge and Tails, hugging them both with a smile on his face. “Group hug!” he said, his head pressed against Scourge’s. “Zonic, get in here!”

“10-4!” the Zone Cop said, joining the hug from the other side, so that he and Sonic sandwiched the other two.

A wobbly smile formed on Scourge’s face. “Dammit, guys…” he breathed, tears now leaking steadily out of his eyes. He couldn’t stop the waterworks. Noting Scourge’s smile, the other three smiled wider and started to laugh. “Oh, you assholes…!”

“Aw, c’mon,” Sonic said, “you all saw me cry my eyes out after we lost Mobius.”

The green hedgehog let out a half cry, half laugh. “You had a reason!” he said, his voice thick and wet. “You lost your home,  _ and _ you were infected with some… some fuckin’ time energy shit that messed with you!”

“I cried ‘cause I lost my home, yeah. So you’re allowed to cry ‘cause you found yours,” Sonic reached up and gave him a noogie. “Let it out bro, we gotcha covered!”

“Yeah,” Zonic agreed. “That’s what friends are for, after all. We stick together through thick and thin.”

“You can count on us!” Tails chimed in, his voice muffled since he was in the middle of the group hug.

Scourge laughed, his sharp canines showing. “Gods, you’re all fuckin’ saps…! You guys… fuckin’ hell…” he cried, still smiling. The four stayed that way for a good while, hugging and laughing. As it went on, Sonic leaned on the others more and more, his legs beginning to tire out. The other three had to hug even tighter to keep him upright. 

The tears leaking from the green hedgehog’s eyes began to slow, and he found himself able to take deep breaths again. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening. He was in a group hug with people who used to be his worst enemies. This was most definitely  _ not _ his style, and if he had his way, this would never happen again. But he supposed he could let it slide just this once.

Eventually, once Scourge had calmed down, they just started having casual conversation with their arms still wrapped around each other. “So how’s everyone doing?” Sonic asked, as if nothing had just happened.

“A little tired, a little hungry,” Zonic shrugged.

“I’m hungry too, actually,” Tails agreed.

“Well, we did save  _ everything. _ We never really got to celebrate, did we?” Sonic wondered with a smile. “I mean, the Time Eater’s dead, his ghoulies are gone, and we just saved the whole dang multiverse. I think we’ve earned a meal out.”

“I’ll go anywhere with booze. I haven’t had  _ any _ since I got released, which fuckin’ sucks,” Scourge said, exhausted from crying. His eyes were dry now, even though his cheeks were still stained.

“Well, we can’t go to a bar,” Zonic hummed, “since Tails is still underage. But I’m really not in the mood for anything fancy. I need cheap, greasy food.”

“There’s a diner just outside Station Square,” the fox suggested. “I think they have beer.”

“You talkin’ about that one dive with the killer milkshakes?” asked Sonic.

“Yeah. Whaddaya think?”

“I’m down. Z, sound good?”

“Sounds  _ very _ good,” the cop smiled. “Scourge?”

“Sure. Just as long as you assholes  _ LET GO OF ME!!” _ he yelled, fighting weakly against their seemingly everlasting hug. The others laughed and released their grip on him, ending the hug. Scourge brushed off the front of his hoodie, as if the others got their germs all over him. “If any of you say  _ anything _ about this, I  _ will _ kick the living shit outta you.”

The others played along with the empty threat, suppressing the urge to act overly-friendly to Scourge in public as they left the workshop and made their way to the aforementioned diner. What followed was possibly the best meal any of them had had in a long time, with lots of chili dogs, disco fries, milkshakes, beer (mainly for Scourge, Zonic had one before switching to soda), singing, and laughing. Tails snarfed milkshake out his nose at one point, which resulted in his sinuses burning  _ and _ freezing all at the same time. That sent everyone else into a complete laughing fit, Scourge laughing so hard he started snorting. That only made everyone laugh  _ harder,  _ Sonic banging his hands on the table and Zonic close to falling out of the booth.

After two hours of this, they got kicked out of the diner. Heroes or not, they were disturbing everyone else in the restaurant. Scourge would have been angry at the owner, but frankly, he was too drunk and giggly to care.

It was a lucky thing Zonic had his portal belt, because Scourge was wobbly on his feet and Sonic’s legs were too tired to carry him very far. They all stumbled back into the workshop. It was dark, they were tired, and they were all full to the brim of warm food and good vibes. The four friends slept in a pile on the couch that night, feeling no reason to split up. Why should they? They had full stomachs, a major victory under their belts, and a pull-out couch. They had each other. What else would they need?

 

The End


End file.
